Future Consequences
by IHaveBiteesHearThemRoar
Summary: Why did Chris really come back from the future? Surely he didn't go through hell for nobody. When a young boy appears in the Manor, will the Charmed Ones' questions finally be revealed? Takes place after ChrisCrossed. [AU]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Okay, this story is set right after Chris-Crossed. I can't remember everything that was going on then, but in my story, Bianca has just died, the sisters have just found out Chris was half-witch and nobody knows who he is yet. Nobody knows Wyatt is evil. I'm not sure if they know about Magic School yet, but in my story they do. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this story, so if you have any ideas please tell me.

Chapter 1-

Chris orbed to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was bitterly cold, but even in just jeans and a thin t-shirt he didn't care.

Chris sat down and wrapped his arms around his knees. Bianca was dead. That was what it all came down to. And it didn't help that he kept having flashes of anger that were completely unrelated to his mood. This might have surprised some people, but Chris knew that they were from what remained of his link with his two brothers. He knew that the anger was because of Wyatt's anger from Chris escaping. And Chris knew that it was only a matter of time until he sent someone back to the past. Another assassin, more precisely. Like Bianca.

He was sick of it all. The lies he had to tell, the constant fear and the rejection from his family. It was too much to handle. He just wanted to go home. But he didn't have a home anymore, not since Wyatt had turned it into a freak show. And the Manor wasn't his home yet in _this _time.

"Chris Perry, get your ass down here _right this instant_!" he heard his mother shout angrily. He sighed and orbed back to the Manor.

He looked around the attic, preparing himself for an attack. He looked around in surprise, however, to find the three Charmed Ones just standing around, besides a boy of no more than 18 with thick brown hair. He was lying on his side, where Chris could see blood sticking to his sweater. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing in shallow, ragged breaths.

"What is it?" Piper asked, looking at Chris. He was looking at the boy, with a horrified expression on his face.

"Where did you find him?" Chris asked, making an effort to visibly gather himself.

"He fell out of a time portal," Phoebe said, who was eying Chris with a curious expression. "We didn't touch him, because we thought you'd know what to do. You see- it was a time portal."

Chris nodded then walked over to the boy's side.

"Why didn't you call Leo to heal him?" Chris asked irritably.

"We thought he might be another assassin," Phoebe said, squirming at the angry look on Chris' face. "But we can call him now. _Leo_!"

Leo appeared in a swirl of blue orbs. "Yes?" he asked, looking around. He noticed the sight of the boy on the floor and went over to heal him. The boy sat up, looking around, a look of wild terror on his face. He gasped when he saw Chris.

"Chris?" he said, looking like a child on Christmas morning. He stood up and went over to Chris. "I'm sorry."

Chris looked half-angry, half-elated. He looked at the boy and seemed to be struggling on what to say.

The boy wrapped his arms around Chris in a hug, which Chris returned, before stepping back slightly. The angry expression returned to his face.

"I told you to stay!" Chris said. "Do you have _any _idea what you could have done?"

The boy winced, and stared at his feet. Phoebe could feel his sadness, and took pity on him.

"Let's go and have some coffee before we figure this out," she said. "You have some explaining to do," she added to Chris.

He glared at her, but followed them all downstairs. Five minutes later, they were all seated in the living room, with drinks in their hands and Piper fussing over the boy they had found injured. Chris just rolled his eyes and sat there with his arms folded.

"Who are you?" Paige asked the boy at last. He opened his mouth to speak, but Chris interrupted.

"Future consequences," he said flatly.

"Not this time," Piper said angrily. "We have had _enough_. I want some answers this time or you won't be coming anywhere near my family ever again!"

"This is Zach," Chris said, looking highly annoyed as he gestured towards the boy.

"How do you know each other?" Leo asked. He winced at the death glares Chris and Zach were both giving him.

"We're friends," Chris said shortly. "Now if you'll please excuse us, we have to go and talk."

Ignoring the Charmed Ones angry protests, he grabbed Zach's arm and they disappeared in a swirl of blue lights.

**A/N: **I hope that chapter was okay. I know, this subject has been done to death, but I figured I might as well write something on it as well. It's probably pretty obvious where I'm going with this. Please review and I'll update quicker!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 2-

"Why did you come back, Zach?" Chris asked, when they were safely on top of the Bridge.

"In our time, you've been gone almost a year," Zach replied, looking at Chris. "I wasn't sure what had happened to you. I just wanted to check you were okay... you're my brother."

"How did you escape from Wyatt, though?" Chris asked. "If it had been easy enough for you to escape, I would've taken you with me. Well, if it wasn't for Cia and Myra."

"Chris, Cia and Myra..." Zach choked out. "Wyatt killed them."

Chris could feel the blood drain from his face. "How?" he whispered.

Zach shook his head miserably. "When we found out about him killing Bianca, we were furious. We killed some of his guards, and I guess it was just the last straw. We've been killing his assassins for over a year now. He just tied them to stakes, and set them on fire in front of all the prisoners. I don't know why he didn't kill me. Maybe he couldn't because of our bond. I don't think so, though, because he tried to kill me as I was escaping through the time portal."

Chris wrapped his arms around his dismal younger brother. It wasn't fair that Zach had to see all this when he was so young. He was barely an adult, yet he had seen the dead piled up in the streets, the hungry people killing each other in squabbles for food scraps, the children being tortured in revenge over things their parents may not even have done. And he had seen his brother murder his own cousins in cold blood.

So, Wyatt had killed his youngest cousins, just like their other cousin Mel. But why had he not killed Zach?

"Ugh, they've been gone for hours!" Piper said in frustration. Her hands twitched, and Phoebe and Paige winced as a vase shattered. Leo had long since returned to the rest of the Elders, so they were forced to endure Piper's bad mood alone.

Phoebe and Paige were not as angry though, since they both trusted Zach, even if they didn't trust Chris. For Paige, this was because of the job she used to have as a social worker. Zach reminded her of the teenagers she would see on the street, with their despairing, haunted eyes. Phoebe trusted him, because she had felt his sadness, and his love for the sisters and Chris. She didn't know why he loved them, and wondered who they were to him in the future. She did know, however, that this love could only mean that he wasn't against them.

"Finally!" Piper muttered. Chris and Zach had orbed back into the house. Zach looked like he had been crying, but none of them commented on it, since Chris was glaring at them all.

"We want some answers," Paige announced.

Piper and Phoebe nodded in agreement.

"Okay, it might help if we knew the questions," Chris replied sarcastically.

"Um, why did you come back in time, Zach?" Phoebe asked.

"To help save Wyatt," he replied.

"Well, why didn't you come _with _Chris?" Piper asked.

"It was safer this way, in case I failed, Zach could come after me," Chris said expressionlessly.

The Charmed Ones all nodded. Suddenly, Leo orbed in.

"There's been a great shift of power," he told them breathlessly. "We don't know if it's good or bad. The Elders have told me to come down and ask you if you knew anything."

All eyes shifted to Zach.

"I don't have much power," he admitted. "It wouldn't have been me."

"It must have been," Leo said, looking at Zach suspiciously. "What powers _do_ you have?"

Zach looked at Chris helplessly.

"Future consequences," Chris said sharply, looking at Leo. "I'll go and check the Book."

He walked off, pulling on Zach's arm. Zach followed Chris, after looking longingly at Piper. Chris knew Zach must have been finding it hard to be with her after seeing her dead, but he also knew that neither of them could get used too used to it, or they would be ripped apart if they went back to the future and had to lose her again.

"Who is he anyway?" Leo asked the Charmed Ones. It was obvious whom they were talking about.

"His name's Zach," Piper said. "Apparently he's a friend of Chris'. From the future."

"You should probably keep an eye on him then," Leo said frowning.

"No," Phoebe said sharply. "He trusts us. He loves Chris, and I know he cares about us too."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "I thought Chris and _Bianca_ were-"

"Not like that," Phoebe said rolling her eyes. "But it seems they're pretty close friends."

"But if he's friends with _Chris_," Leo replied.

"Look, I know you don't trust Chris, Leo," Paige said. "But his friend seems okay. I agree with Phoebe."

"Wyatt's life is at risk here!" Piper exclaimed. "We can't leave his life in the hands of two people we know next to nothing about."

Phoebe and Paige remained silent. They knew that it was no use arguing with Piper when she was in this mood. And they knew that Leo would do anything to protect his son.

Meanwhile, Chris and Zach were looking at the Book upstairs.

"I missed it," Zach said softly, running his hands over the front of it.

"Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?" Chris asked him, with a tiny smile on his face. "But I know what you mean. I hate the idea of it in Wyatt's hands."

"Chris, our bond with Wyatt..." Zach started. "Could you feel his anger?"

Chris nodded. "You too?"

"Yeah," Zach replied. "I'm not sure why we don't have the telepathic link anymore. I mean I know that he tried to break it, and succeeded only in weakening it, but why can we feel each other's emotions and no words?"

Chris shrugged. "Maybe emotions are stronger than words."

Chris flicked through a few pages in the Book, while Zach stared out the window.

"It's so _different_," Zach said finally, breaking his gaze from outside. "To see people walking around outside, _happy_. Nobody starving, or killing..."

"We won't go back to that, Zach," Chris said. "I promise."

Zach nodded. He found it hard to believe, but Chris _never _broke his promises. Not to him.

"Oh god," Chris muttered, staring down at the Book.

Zach walked over to him, and saw that the Book was open to the page on time travelling.

"What?" Zach asked.

"The shift in power," Chris muttered. "You said that Wyatt knew you were escaping and tried to kill you as you went through the portal."

"You think he sent assassins through it to try and kill me?" Zach asked, his sea-green eyes wide in terror.

Chris shook his head.

"I think _Wyatt_ came through the portal to try and kill you," Chris said grimly.

**A/N:** Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** This chapter is slightly longer than the last two, which were pretty much just to lay out the setting. The chapters will get longer as we get deeper into the plot. And I know my poetry sucks, I was trying to remember a summoning spell from the show, but in the end, this was all I came up with. Oh well. shrugs Enjoy!

Chapter 3-

"Wyatt's in this time?" Zach whispered.

Chris nodded grimly. "That would explain the shift in power. But only one set of powers can exist in a time. That would mean that _this _time's Wyatt doesn't have his powers anymore."

The younger boy's eyes met his older brother's. "We need to find Wyatt," he said.

Chris put his hand on Zach's shoulder, and they orbed downstairs, to find Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo sitting there talking.

"Where's Wyatt?" Chris asked Piper.

She looked at her sisters. "I sent him over to Magic School a few hours ago."

"What!" Chris yelled, making everyone jumped.

"Uh, we need to get him back," Zach said, trying to calm everybody down.

"Why?" Piper asked; her eyes narrowed. "Gideon's looking after him."

"I don't think he has any powers at the moment," Chris said, for once telling the truth.

"What did you do to him?" Leo asked, stepping towards him angrily.

Zach stepped between them and glared at Leo.

"Chris didn't do anything!" Zach said. "And if you were around for your family more often, this might not have happened!"

"Let's just get Wyatt," Chris said. "_Now_."

"I'll get him," Leo volunteered.

They watched in silence as he orbed away.

"What do all you future people have against Leo?" Paige asked.

Chris and Zach just glared at her.

"I was just saying," she replied weakly.

Leo orbed back, looking frazzled. "You're right, he doesn't have any powers!" he told them. "But how did you know?"

"Future consequences," Chris said. "We can't say."

"You _are not_going to use that excuse again!" Piper hissed angrily, stepping towards Chris. "My _son _is in danger, and you're sitting here talking about future consequences?"

"I think the future of the world is a little more important than getting your son's powers back!" Chris replied, just as angrily.

_Smack! _Piper hit Chris around the face.

"We don't need your help!" she said, seething with anger. " Now get the hell out of my house before I blow you up!"

Chris orbed away, but not before Zach could see the hurt in his eyes.

"Do you have any idea what you've just done?" Zach asked furiously, before orbing out after Chris.

"Chris?" Zach asked tentatively, orbing onto the Golden Gate Bridge where he knew Chris would be.

"What?" Chris asked dully.

"She doesn't know you're her son," he replied. "Otherwise she'd never have hit you."

Chris laughed hollowly. "You know, sometimes I think that's the only reason why they actually put up with me," he replied. "Because I'm their _son_."

"Mum loved you," Zach said softly. "You know she did."

"She still didn't believe me about Wyatt being evil," Chris replied bitterly. "She took his word over mine. Then he _killed_ her!"

He laughed hysterically. "That's the last time I saw her. Wyatt plunging an athame through her chest. She screamed in pain, and what did Wyatt do? He _laughed_."

Zach saw silent tears running down Chris' cheeks, and remembered that the last time he had actually seen him cry was at their mother's funeral.

"It won't happen again," Zach said gently. "We won't let it."

Chris wiped at his tears angrily. "We may not be able to stop it. Maybe it's just her destiny to die," he said bitterly.

"We can't think like that, Chris," Zach said urgently.

And Chris lifted his head to give Zach a tiny smile.

"You didn't have to be so hard on him," Phoebe said softly. Paige nodded and bit her lip. She agreed with Phoebe, but she didn't want Piper to blow up again.

"He took away my son's _powers _Phoebe!" Piper hissed.

"Did you see his face before he orbed out, Piper?" Paige said. "He looked really upset.

Piper laughed. "Well, he'd pretend to be, anyway."

"Well, let's figure out who to blame _after _Wyatt gets his powers back, okay?" Paige said. "I'll check the book. Phoebe want to come help?"

Phoebe nodded and they left the room.

"I can't believe the nerve of that kid!" Piper said when they had gone, still fuming over Wyatt's powers.

"Do you want me to see if I can find him?" Leo asked. "He must be blocking my sensing, but I can orb around. He might turn up somewhere."

Piper nodded. Leo gave her a quick kiss and orbed out. She sighed as, once again, her hands twitched, blowing up a pot plant.

"Did you hear something?" Phoebe asked Paige in the attic.

Paige listened for a second. "Nope. It can't be anything _too _bad, if there was only one crash."

They went through the book, looking out for anything that could help them.

"Well, I can't really find anything that would indicate why Wyatt just suddenly lost his powers," Phoebe said. "Unless he's been drinking a potion from a Farzal demon, or something like that."

"Do you think maybe he has been poisoned?" Paige asked. "I think it's more likely that he's under a spell."

Phoebe shrugged. "We could try a revealing spell, to see who took his powers."

Paige shook her head. "If we did that, it would have to be without Piper since she thinks Chris did it."

"Do you?" Phoebe asked her sister.

Paige sighed. "No. And even if I don't trust Chris, I think Zach's okay."

Phoebe nodded eagerly. "I know what you mean. Chris is really neurotic and everything, but I think Zach would tell us _everything _if it weren't for Chris. I could feel loyalty coming from him as well. They must be pretty good friends."

Just then, they heard a scream. Paige grabbed Phoebe's hand and orbed them both downstairs.

"What?" Paige asked, looking around. Piper was standing besides Wyatt's playpen, her hands over her mouth.

"Wyatt just... disappeared," Piper said in a horrified tone.

Phoebe went over to hug her sister. "Don't worry, we'll get him back."

"Leo!" Paige called.

He orbed in. "Yes?"

"Wyatt's missing," Phoebe told him.

Leo's face hardened. "I am going to kill Chris," he said harshly.

"No!" Phoebe said. "We have no proof that he did anything! We could call for him to come and help us though..."

"If you think I am going to have that bastard in my house after what he's done..." Piper hissed.

"Look, just... don't do anything stupid," Paige said. "I'll try and find Chris. Do you want to check Magic School, Phoebe?"

Phoebe nodded, and Leo orbed her to Magic School with a wave of his hand.

"I'll check the book," Piper said crisply. "You should check with the Elders, Leo."

He agreed and orbed out. Paige and Piper were left alone.

"Look, I know you don't trust Chris, but we have to give him the benefit of the doubt," Paige told Piper comfortingly. "It'll turn out okay, I promise."

Piper gave a glum smile and walked upstairs. Paige sighed and orbed to P3.

"Lila, there you are," Phoebe said, shooting a smile at the blonde witch helping pack away the School's magic books. "Have you seen Wyatt?"

"Is he missing?" Phoebe turned around to see Leo's old mentor, Gideon, standing behind her.

"Yes, he just disappeared in front of Piper," Phoebe told them, sighing. "Not only that, but his powers are gone."

Gideon raised a slight eyebrow. "I haven't seen him. Such a young boy, what a pity..."

"He's not dead," Phoebe said sharply.

"Of course not," Gideon replied smoothly. "If there's anything I can do to help, let me know."

He walked away, and neither Lila nor Phoebe noticed the slight smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry, Phoebe," Lila said apologetically. "The last time I saw him was several days ago when Piper took him in here for a visit. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No," Phoebe sighed. "But thanks anyway. Bye Lila."

"Did you make Wyatt disappear?" Paige asked Chris and Zach, at P3. Even though she stood up for them, it didn't mean she was _entirely _free from suspicion.

"No," Chris replied, for once entirely serious. He shot a look at Zach. "He's... missing?"

Paige nodded. Zach and Chris immediately jumped up.

"Wait a second," Paige said severely. "What do you two know about this?"

"Nothing," Chris lied.

Paige narrowed her eyes at them. "Nothing my ass. Tell me what you know or I'll take you back to Piper and let her blow you up. She is _not _happy at the moment."

Chris rolled his eyes. "I think the shift of power is because Wyatt came back from the future and kidnapped his baby self," Chris said. "Happy?"

Paige's eyes widened. "Oh," was all she could say.

"Oh?" Chris repeated. "OH?"

"There's no need to overreact," Paige told him. "First of all, you said you came back to the past to _save _Wyatt. If he came back to the past, he must be fine. And why would he want to kidnap his younger self?"

"Future consequences," Chris told her. "C'mon Zach."

And before Paige could stop them, Chris and Zach had orbed out.

She sighed irritably and went back to the Manor. "Piper!" she told her oldest sister once she was in the attic. "I saw Chris and Zach. Chris says that Wyatt came back from the future to kidnap his younger self. We know that only one version of a person can have powers so that means that baby-Wyatt's powers were taken and given to the older Wyatt."

Piper just looked confused at Paige's ramblings. "Huh?" she said.

Paige took a deep breath and began to explain.

"Wyatt must have kidnapped his baby version," Chris told Zach, pacing on the Golden Gate Bridge. "We're screwed."

"You can't think like that!" Zach told him. "You're the Resistance leader who gave everybody hope when Wyatt was out there killing and torturing people. You're the person who stopped everyone from sinking into despair when they could see the hungry, sick people piled on top of the dead in the streets. If you've given up, what the hell are we supposed to do?"

Chris sighed. He knew his brother was right. "Well, the sisters still don't know he's evil," he said. "Let's just hope they don't summon him or anything."

Both brothers' eyes immediately widened. "Oh god," Zach muttered as they both orbed out.

"Let's summon him!" Piper said. "It's the perfect solution!"

Paige chewed on her bottom lip. "I don't think it's a very good idea."

"Why not?" Piper asked.

Paige shrugged. "Just a gut feeling."

"Do we have any better plans?" Piper snapped.

Paige shook her head. "I guess not," she sighed. "I'll go and get Phoebe."

In less than two minutes, the three sisters were gathered together in the attic.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Paige muttered.

"Same here," Phoebe replied.

"_Blood to blood, I summon thee,_

_let that of us return to me_."

There was a shocked silence as they saw three people appear in the attic. Chris and Zach had orbed in, but the grown Wyatt had appeared in the ring of crystals with his younger self in his arms.

**A/N:** Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I'm so glad you like the story! I have made a slight change to chapter two. The cousin Chris mentioned named 'Prue' is now called 'Mel'. There was a reason for this change, which you'll find out later in the story.

Chapter 4-

Zach and Chris' mouths dropped open.

"Wy?" Chris asked in confusion.

Wyatt just smirked. Piper smiled at her eldest son, and started walking over towards the ring of crystals, just as Chris suddenly came to his senses.

"Don't let him out!" Chris shouted.

"Why not?" Piper asked, confused.

"He's evil," Chris said.

Piper turned to him, her eyes flashing. "Don't you dare _ever _accuse my son of being evil again!" she said angrily. She turned to the ring of crystals and started pulling them away.

"Wyatt!" she said, opening her arms to hug her eldest son. He stepped away from her with a look of disgust.

"I'm afraid to say Christopher was right, Mother," he sneered. "For the first and last time in his life." He looked at Zach. "I'm very disappointed in you, Zachary. You turned away from me, your own _brother_. You'll go the same way as Christopher if you keep this up."

"Brother?" Leo repeated, but nobody seemed to hear him.

"Wyatt... you're not evil," Piper told him, more to convince herself than anyone else.

He laughed. "It's not about good and evil anymore, Mother. It's about power."

"And whoever has the most power wins," Chris muttered as though it was something he had heard many times before.

"Exactly," Wyatt replied triumphantly.

"That's ridiculous!" Phoebe replied. "It goes against everything the Halliwell name stands for."

"Yes, your daughter thought so too," Wyatt replied carelessly. "But she's not a problem anymore, is she?"

Phoebe paled considerably. "My... daughter?"

"Wyatt, you're my son," Leo pleaded. "This isn't you."

Wyatt's smile widened. "Isn't it?" He lifted a hand and watched in amusement as Piper, Paige, Phoebe, Leo, Chris and Zach were all thrown across the room. He laughed as they hit the wall.

"Well, I must be off," Wyatt said indifferently. "But before I go, here's a little something to remember me by." He threw a small glass vial at Chris. Before they could stop him, he was gone.

Chris groaned and his head fell back against the wall. Zach rushed to his side, and helped him to stand.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Chris nodded.

Zach glared at them all. "Are you happy? Chris was telling the absolute truth and you slapped him across the face!"

Piper had a guilty look on her face. "I'm sorry, it was just so hard to believe..."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Chris said suddenly. He orbed downstairs with Zach. Leo glanced at the sisters, and then followed them.

Chris ran outside and threw up. He went back inside, wiping a hand across his mouth shakily.

"Was it the potion Wyatt threw at you?" Leo asked.

"What else would it be?" Chris replied angrily.

"Calm down," Zach replied. "We need to find out where Wyatt is. Well, little Wyatt and big Wyatt."

Leo looked at Zach and suddenly remembered what Wyatt had said in the attic. He gasped.

"What?" Zach asked, and then froze at the look in Leo's eyes. He could see pride, love... he had to know.

"You're my son, aren't you?" Leo whispered.

"Biologically speaking," Zach snapped. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone."

"You look just like Piper..." Leo said softly.

Chris sank into the couch, not having heard any of their conversation. Leo and Zach looked at him, concerned.

"I feel dizzy," Chris mumbled.

"This isn't good," Zach said, looking at Chris in worry.

Just then, Piper, Paige and Phoebe walked in. Piper looked pretty upset, but then again, she had just found out her son was evil.

"What's wrong with Chris?" Paige asked, seeing him slumped on the couch.

"Whatever Wyatt threw at him is making him sick," Zach replied. "Chris, are you awake?"

He didn't answer. A mirror shattered, making them all jump. Leo, Paige and Phoebe all looked at Piper.

"Hey, it wasn't me this time," she defended herself.

"Sorry, my bad," Zach muttered.

"You can blow things up?" Piper asked, seemingly excited.

Zach shrugged. "Looks that way, doesn't it?" he replied cryptically.

"So, um, if you can tell us... just exactly how bad is Wyatt in the future?" Phoebe asked.

"He's the evil overlord of the entire world," Zach replied.

Leo, Paige and Phoebe all gasped, which Zach thought only happened in movies and crappy novels. Piper looked like she was about to cry.

"You must be lying," Piper said feebly.

"Well, he's not," Leo snapped. "So let's all face it."

Phoebe and Paige eyed him suspiciously.

"Why are you on his side all of a sudden?" Paige asked.

"Why not?" he replied.

"Guys, I hate to break up this little meeting, but Chris is _dying_," Zach told them, bringing them all back to earth. "Once Wyatt decides to kill someone, they're as good as dead. Unless of course, we find an antidote for the potion."

"I'll check the book," Paige, Piper and Phoebe all said simultaneously.

"I'll stay here with Chris," Zach said, looking at his brother sadly.

Phoebe felt his pain, and a wave of pity washed over her. She put a hand on his shoulder.

"We won't let him die," she told him quietly.

He nodded, and watched them go upstairs.

"He'll be okay," Leo told him.

Zach said nothing.

"Why do you and Chris hate me so much?" Leo asked him.

Zach stiffened. "We don't exactly _hate _you."

"You seem to," Leo said, watching the boy closely.

"Okay, we hate you," Zach snapped. "Happy now?"

The pained look on Leo's face was almost enough to soften Zach. Then he thought of the way he had treated Chris his entire life, and his face hardened again.

"_Why _do you hate me?" Leo asked softly.

Zach ignored him, instead turning his gaze to his sleeping brother, wondering if he would ever wake up.

"Phoebe, Paige, I'm so scared... what if I don't get my son back?" Piper asked.

Phoebe shrugged. She had been in her own little world since the visit from Wyatt... she had a daughter! But the way Wyatt had spoken of her made it sound like he had done something... something bad.

"It'll be okay," Paige soothed. She shot Phoebe a look. "Right, Phoebe?"

"Oh, yeah, right," Phoebe replied vaguely.

Paige gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sure your daughter will turn out fine."

"Daughter?" Piper repeated, her head snapping up.

Phoebe nodded. "Wyatt mentioned her."

"This is pointless!" Paige muttered, tapping her fingers impatiently on the book. "I can't seem to find anything we can grasp on to. There are lots of entries about potions, but they're all pretty much the same. How are we supposed to find an antidote to all these different poisons at once?"

"We'll figure it out," Phoebe said, though she wasn't feeling very sure. She knew it was selfish, but the main reason she wanted to have Chris well again was so that she could pummel information about her daughter from him and Zach.

"I _told _you trying to heal him wouldn't work, Leo," a very irritable Zach said.

"It didn't mean I couldn't try," Leo said. "And that's _Dad _to you."

"Whatever, _Leo_," Zach muttered. It was hard just sitting there watching his brother, the only person he had left in the world, just lie there, slowly dying.

Chris' eyes opened slightly.

"See! I told you it was worth a try!" Leo said triumphantly, but Zach ignored him.

"Are you okay, Chris?" Zach asked fervently.

"Oh yeah, I've got a deadly poison running through me and I'm just peachy," Chris replied sarcastically, his voice somewhat weak.

"Do you know what the poison was?" Zach asked.

Chris shrugged slightly, and then winced. "Wyatt uses a lot of poisons. I can't remember every single one of them."

"Can you sit up?" Zach asked. "How does the potion make you feel?"

"I'm fine," Chris replied, trying to sit up. Zach put an arm around him and he managed to pull himself up. Chris groaned.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked, worried.

Chris looked at him, seeming to notice he was there for the first time.

"Wow Leo," Chris replied cynically. "For a second there, it almost sounded like you cared about me."

"My son obviously cares about you, therefore so do I," Leo replied curtly.

Chris' eyes widened slightly. "You told him?" he asked Zach.

"Wyatt gave it away," Zach said.

Chris nodded slightly. "It's strange... I can't really remember what happened in the attic."

"This potion seems pretty dangerous..." Zach said uneasily.

"With these conditions, I think Chris only has about three days to live unless find an antidote," Leo said heavily. "I can't heal him, only drain his pain and lessen the illness slightly."

"You can't die..." Zach answered unhappily.

Chris gave a tiny smile. "If worst comes to worst, you're here now. _You_ can save the future." His eyes closed, and they could see his eyes flicker shut. He was sleeping again.

"He's not going to die," Leo said vehemently. "I don't know what I did in the future to make you hate me so much, but I'm sure as hell going to make up for it now."

"I might actually believe that if you didn't always break your promises," Zach said sorrowfully.

"I'm not that person yet, Zach," Leo replied. "I won't let Chris die. We're going to save him, okay?"

And Zach almost believed him.

"We need Wyatt's blood," Leo announced.

They all blinked. "Huh?"

"What have you been _doin_g for the last day?" Leo demanded. "I've been to seven demon lairs, the fairy gardens and a parallel universe and I've finally found out the antidote. Wyatt's blood and a spell should be enough to save Chris."

"Isn't going to a parallel universe a little... _extreme, _Leo?" Paige asked hesitantly.

"I found out the antidote, didn't I?" he replied patronizingly.

Phoebe blinked again. "He has a point."

Zach was staring at his father though. He couldn't believe that for once in his life, he had done something for Chris and he hadn't even been awake to see it. Then again, it was more precisely because of _Zach _that Leo had found out the antidote, and that was how it always was. Leo only ever did something for Chris if Wyatt, Piper or Zach really wanted him to. Never just for Chris.

"How are we supposed to get Wyatt's blood?" Paige asked. "Just exactly how powerful is he, anyway?"

Zach shrugged. "He's the most powerful person in the world. He can pretty much do anything."

"Well, that's just _great_," Paige muttered. "How the hell are we supposed to summon him if he'll instantly kill us afterwards?"

"He won't kill us," Piper said confidently. "We saw him before and he didn't."

"He would kill us," Zach told Piper seriously. "I'm not sure why he didn't kill us all before, but you have to trust me. Wyatt would not hesitate to kill us."

"How do you know?" Piper asked.

Zach looked at the ground.

"Oh my god," Phoebe gasped softly, looking at him. She could feel his grief. "He killed us in the future, didn't he?"

Zach didn't reply.

"We need to get to work," Leo said, looking at Zach with slight concern. "Otherwise Chris will die."

"It's almost _midnight _Leo," Piper told him. "We barely slept last night, and we need to have plenty of rest. What is demons attack and we're too tired to fight? Chris has been unconscious the entire time, but you said it yourself, he has two days left."

"No!" Zach said stubbornly. "We can't _rest _knowing he could be about to die!"

Leo sighed. "Zach, get some rest. I guess Piper's right. You didn't sleep at _all _last night. I'll watch Chris."

Zach nodded glumly and plonked himself in an armchair. In less than a minute, he was fast asleep.

"Why do you care about him so much now, anyway?" Paige asked Leo, who was watching Zach with a fond expression on his face.

Leo shrugged. "I just do," he said simply.

**A/N:** Yeah, I know it was a lame place to end it; I just wanted to get the chapter up. Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** I wasn't entirely happy with this chapter, mainly because of the spell I had to write for it. Once again, I apologize for my dreadful poetry. I wrote the spell in about half a minute because I wanted to finish this chapter, but I assure you that it would hardly have been better if I spent an hour on it. I hope you enjoy the rest of the chapter!

Chapter 5-

"Zach! Phoebe! Paige!" Chris called out in frustration. "Piper! Leo! Answer me, dammit!" He waved a face in front of Zach's face, and groaned, as he seemed to look straight through it. They seemed to be talking about him, or, more precisely, his body downstairs. Chris wasn't really listening, but he still managed to pick up flashes of the conversation.

"How are we supposed to get-"

"-in the world. He can pretty much-"

"-and he didn't."

"Answer me!" Chris yelled angrily. He was getting increasingly furiated with the way his family were ignoring him.

"They can't hear you."

Chris turned his head where he had heard the amused voice on the other side of the attic. His mouth dropped. He recognized this man from entries in the Book of Shadows, and countless memories he had seen in the Charmed Ones heads, thanks to his cousin Mel's power of picking into people's minds and projecting their thoughts.

"Cole?"

The man grinned. "It's so nice to have someone to talk to," he said casually. "And someone who knows my name, even more so."

"You were vanquished," Chris said, inwardly wincing at his accusing voice.

"Indeed I was." Cole's grin seemed to grow wider, and Chris scowled at him.

"Go to hell."

"I've already been there," Cole said, the smirk immediately dropping from his face, to be replaced with a slight frown. He gestured around the attic. "And this _is _hell. For me, anyway. It was my punishment. To be as close as I can get to Phoebe without being to touch or even _talk _to her."

Chris said nothing, and Cole's frown deepened.

"Not very good conversation, are you?" Cole asked. "Come on, kid, talk. I've been stuck here for years with nobody to talk to. The least you could do is _say _something."

"Where _am _I?" Chris asked, stating the first and most apparent question in his head.

"In the Manor," Cole replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. And it was, Chris realised a second later, feeling rather stupid.

"Why can't they see me?" Chris asked, motioning towards his family.

"We're _stuck_," Cole said, pronouncing the words with a bitter hatred. "Stuck between life and death. Most people would be dead already from that potion Piper's son gave you."

"Why aren't I?" Chris asked,

Cole glanced at him. "I suppose something in you is still fighting for life," he replied cryptically.

Chris shrugged, wondering at it. Zach could save the future; he knew that. And Chris didn't have any reasons to live apart from saving Wyatt and the future. So why was he still alive?

Chris realised with a start that he did have a reason for living. _Zach_. Zach needed him. Zach had told him before he went back to the past that he couldn't survive if anything happened to him. And Chris knew it was a bad world out there, he wanted to protect his younger brother.

"Could you tell me something about the future?" Cole asked, pulling Chris out of his thoughts.

"I doubt it," Chris said dubiously. "But go on, ask me something. I'll do my best to answer it."

"Is- is Phoebe okay?" Cole asked, his face perfectly serious.

Chris' heart sank. There was no harm in telling Cole the answer; it was obvious he wouldn't be able to tell anyone. But Chris didn't want to break the news to this man who obviously loved her very much.

"No," he said quietly.

Pure anguish showed on Cole's face. He swallowed. "What happened?" he managed to ask.

"Wyatt," Chris answered softly, his gaze drifting over to his parents.

"Did she ever get married again?" Cole asked.

Chris nodded slightly. "She had a daughter. Her name was Prudence Melinda. Mel, we called her."

_The daughter that could have been mine, _Cole thought. It seemed Chris had guessed his thoughts though, as his gaze fixed on Cole was filled with pity.

"Her name _was _Prudence Melinda?" Cole repeated.

Chris shot him a look. "She died," he said coldly.

"Oh," Cole said awkwardly. "I'm sorry." He searched around for another subject and came across one. "Why did you call her Mel?" he asked. "Why not Prue?"

Chris shrugged. "There was another Prue," he answered, with obvious sadness.

"Do you mean-" Cole started to ask.

"No," Chris interrupted him. "I've already said enough."

Cole raised an eyebrow. "How exactly am I going to change the future?" he asked wryly.

Chris shrugged. "There's always a possibility. I've already changed more than I meant to. Now my entire existence is threatened. I planned this trip for months, but in the end I let my emotions take over."

Cole was slightly confused, but had a slight idea what Chris was talking about. "When you imprisoned Leo on Valhalla?" he asked. "I've been wondering about that. It surprised me when you put him there. I didn't think you were stupid enough to separate your parents before you were even born."

Chris' eyes widened. "How did you-?"

Cole gave a slight laugh. "The resemblance between you and Piper is remarkable," he said, glancing slightly at the oldest Charmed One. "And you have Leo's eyes. I can't think how they didn't notice it."

"People only believe what they want to believe," Chris said bitterly, staring at his scruffy shoes.

Cole eyed the young whitelighter-witch and was filled with a slight sympathy that surprised him, because it was so different from the self-pity he felt so often nowadays.

"How can I go back to- well, life?" Chris asked, raising his head.

"You can't," Cole replied grimly. "Not unless the Charmed Ones manage to save your body. A spirit can only take you so far in life."

"That sucks," Chris replied, knowing that trying to find an antidote to one of Wyatt's potions was like to trying to find a needle in a haystack. Well, no, more like trying to find a grain of neon pink sand on a beach. At least finding a needle in a haystack was _possible_. Chris shook his head slightly, wondering why the hell he was thinking about neon pink sand when he could be finding a way to return to his body.

"You can't get outside, either," Cole told Chris, with a slight smile on his face as if he knew exactly what the whitelighter-witch was thinking.

Chris glared at him. "Of course I can."

He tried orbing and growled in frustration when he found he couldn't orb. Next he went downstairs, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get out. It was like an invisible barrier that went all the way around the house. He tried smashing windows, but couldn't. Cole watched all this with extreme amusement.

"I've tried all that, you know," he drawled, watching Chris' attempts to jump out the attic. "But we're stuck in here."

Chris groaned, and slumped against the wall, his head in his hands. "Great. Just _great. _I'm stuck in this damn house with the ex-Source of all Evil, watching my family try and find an antidote for a poison that most likely doesn't even _have _an antidote. Meanwhile, they've totally forgotten about my older brother who is going to become the evil overlord of the world unless they suddenly have a brainwave, remember him, and stop whatever it is that's gonna turn him evil."

"And I thought I had it bad," Cole remarked, rather unhelpfully, Chris thought to himself.

* * *

When Zach woke up, he was surprised to find himself in an armchair in the Manor's living room with a blanket laid over the top of him. He got up and stretched, remembering with a start that he had to save Chris. He looked over and frowned, seeing his brother's body on the couch, lying there, and deathly pale.

"'Morning," Leo said cheerfully, coming into the Manor.

Zach frowned again. "You don't live here."

The smile dropped right off Leo's face. "I used to," he said.

"Why are you here?" Zach said bluntly. "Shouldn't you be 'Up There' with the Elders?"

"I'm helping you find a way to heal Chris," Leo replied.

"Piper, Phoebe and Paige are going to be wondering about this you know," Zach told him, hiding the fact that he was actually happy that Leo was helping him. "You just went from hating Chris and I to being all, well, _chummy_."

"Can't we just tell them the truth?" Leo asked, a definite pleading note in his voice.

Zach shook his head. "If it was really important to them, they'd know already."

"What do you mean?" asked Leo.

"Wyatt placed a spell so we wouldn't know exactly what he did or told us," Zach said. "It's a routine thing, though so it wasn't very strong. That's why you were able to break it, and actually noticed details of what he said. Didn't you feel light-headed afterwards?"

Leo shrugged, but realised Zach was right, he _had _felt light headed. He also realised he couldn't remember exactly what had gone on in the attic.

"Let's get to work then," said Zach, bringing Leo out of his thoughts. "We need to save Chris."

Leo nodded, slightly unenthusiastically considering his cheerful attitude from earlier. "How are we supposed to get Wyatt's blood?"

"It's not possible," Zach said bluntly. "He's too powerful."

"There must be _some _way," said Leo. "He must have a weakness."

Zach shook his head. "The only thing I've ever known Wyatt to be afraid of is heights, and he probably grew out of that."

"My son afraid of _heights_?" Leo asked, horrified.

Zach grinned. "More to the point, the great almighty Wyatt Halliwell who tortured and killed thousands, if not _millions_ of people, afraid of heights."

Leo winced.

"Sorry," Zach said, the smile dropping from his face. "I didn't mean to bring that up. Anyway, that's one of the reasons Chris likes it up on that Bridge. It was somewhere Wyatt would never follow him."

"How long have you known Chris?" Leo asked conversationally.

"Nice try, Leo," Zach said wryly. "But I promised Chris I wouldn't let anything slip, and I intend to keep that promise."

"Would it kill you to call me _Dad _once in awhile?" sighed Leo.

Zach glared at him. "Like you were saying, we need to find a way to save Chris," he said, abruptly changing the subject.

"Well, maybe we could summon Wyatt and do some kind of spell so that he would feel like he was on the top of a tall building," Leo suggested. "We can take some blood from him then and say the spell to save Chris."

"Leo, you don't seem to _get _it!" Zach cried, throwing his hands up in frustration. "Get this through your thick head: Wyatt means _death_."

"You want to save Chris don't you?" Leo asked, still believing his son would never do anything to hurt him.

Zach bit his lip. He _did _want to save Chris. But he knew what Wyatt was capable of. He'd seen his brother torture mere children, and it sickened him. It _frightened _him.

"Fine," Zach said, his voice slightly hesitant. "You get Piper, Phoebe and Paige and I'll start working on a spell."

"This has got to be the most idiotic thing I've ever attempted to do," Zach groaned, running his hands through his mop of brown hair. "Chris is going to _kill _me if any of you die."

The Charmed Ones all glared at him. "There won't _be_ a Chris to kill you if you keep up that attitude," Piper snapped. "Let's say the spell."

They chanted the summoning spell they had used last night. An angry-looking Wyatt appeared in the crystals, this time without his younger self in his arms. Paige through the potion they had made at him, which was supposed to make him feel as though he was on the top of a very tall building. Surprisingly, it seemed to work as Wyatt grew very pale, and swayed on his feet. If it hadn't been so serious, Zach would have sniggered at the world's evil overlord looking like he was about to throw up.

"I thought my pathetic family would have learnt their lesson from what happened to Christopher!" Wyatt managed to yell.

Zach walked up to the crystal circle, the knife in his hand. "Say the spell!" he yelled to his mother and aunts, dodging the energy balls Wyatt had managed to get through the shield the crystals made.

They looked hesitant, but began reading, as Zach plunged the knife towards Wyatt's arm. Wyatt drew his arm back and punched Zach's head though, and he fell to the floor. Zach knew he wouldn't be able to get the blood in time, and before he could tell the sisters to stop chanting the spell, they had finished.

"_We call upon the ancient power,_

_To help us in this needful hour._

_Reunite the power of three,_

_Return to us that whom we seek._

_Stuck between the realms of life and death,_

_Let him live, bring back his breath."_

Zach could feel himself _fading _somehow. He heard Leo shouting his name; Wyatt's angry yells, the sisters panicked cries, and all at once he reappeared in the exact same spot as before, apart from the fact that he could see Chris, and a man he recognised as a demon he had thought was _vanquished_, Cole, standing besides his parents and aunts.

"Cole?" Piper _shrieked_, looking shocked. Leo, Phoebe and Paige were looking at him in horrified silence.

"Where did Zach and Wyatt go?" Leo asked, clearly panicked, noticing for the first time that his sons were missing. It was then that Zach realised that they couldn't see him or his brothers.

Zach looked at his older brothers, Chris staring at Wyatt, dumbfounded, and Wyatt looking at his hands in utter disbelief, clearing unable to use his powers. Zach glanced at Leo, his mother and aunts, all looking at Cole, and his brothers, now staring daggers at one another. He said the only two words that seemed to make sense at that moment.

"Oh, crap."

**A/N:** Okay, in case you were confused, Wyatt and Zach have gotten stuck in the place between the world of the living and the world of the dead, where Chris and Cole previously were. The spell mucked up, because since Zach didn't manage to get Wyatt's blood in time Chris couldn't come back to the world of the living, but _someone _had to, so Cole came back. Chris is still stuck there, though. I'm not really sure how the brothers should react to each other though, so please tell me what you think. If anybody's wondering, I got the idea for this chapter from an episode in season seven where _Piper _is the one stuck with Cole because she's not quite dead and not quite alive. Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I hope this story is turning out okay. In case anyone's forgotten, the reason they can't get baby Wyatt's blood is because he was with the grown-up Wyatt. At the moment, nobody knows where baby Wyatt is, because grown-up Wyatt wasn't holding him when he got 'stuck'. This story is mainly about Wyatt, Chris and Zach, so we didn't get to see Leo and Piper's reaction to their son being missing, but they wouldn't have been _too _worried since it's unlikely that Wyatt would hurt himself. Words written in italics are flashbacks.

Chapter 6-

"Cole," Phoebe said faintly, bringing her hand up to her head. "You're –you're _dead_."

"Obviously not," he replied cheerfully.

"Excuse me, but my son is _missing _here," Piper said, tearing away her eyes from Cole. "Both of them. Well both _versions _of them...I mean him. Both versions of him. I mean-"

"You're rambling, Piper," Phoebe said absently, her eyes glued to Cole.

"What do you _expect_?" she replied irritably.

Piper was confused. She'd just found out that her son was _evil_, and not only that, but he had come back from the future, and _now_, his baby-self and his grown-up self were missing.

"Look, we'll find Wyatt, Zach and Chris eventually. I know we will," Leo said calmly, and Piper remembered how much she loved her husband's gentle optimism. _Ex-_husband, she reminded herself. But he had kissed her the other night- and she hadn't even remembered they had broken up. She couldn't clearly remember everything that had happened in the last few days... it was like a cloud of mist had settled over her mind.

"What are you doing here, Cole?" Leo asked, and Piper remembered he was there with a start. She was too preoccupied with the fact that her son was missing to even _think _about anything else.

"I'm not exactly sure how I got here," Cole admitted, slightly sheepishly. "I was kind of in limbo."

"Well, I guess we need to re-vanquish you," Paige announced.

"No!" Phoebe protested, and then blushed. "I mean..." She turned to look at Cole. "I don't love you anymore, you know that right?"

Cole nodded, looking disappointed. "Fine, vanquish me."

"Do you have your powers?" Piper asked.

Cole shook his head. "Not anymore. I'm fully mortal."

"We can't kill him, then," Leo said. "He's an innocent."

The Charmed Ones looked at him like he was crazy.

"An innocent?" Paige repeated, dumbfounded.

Leo nodded.

"Well, if you're not going to kill me, I'll do it myself," Cole said, feeling frustrated. He picked up a sharp knife they used for chopping potions ingredients, and was about to drive it into himself when Paige orbed it out of his hand.

"Not this again," Piper muttered, remembering the last time Cole was on a suicidal drive.

"Much as I hate to admit it, Leo's right," Paige told Cole. "We can't kill you, and it would be wrong to just let you die."

Cole glared at her. "So what am I supposed to do?"

"Help us find Wyatt," Piper said, her mind falling back to her missing son.

Zach flinched at the looks his elder brothers were giving each other. He could practically _feel _the raw hatred radiating between them.

"Uh, in case you guys haven't noticed, nobody can see us," Zach said, looking at his parents and aunts who were staring at Cole. "And why is Cole there?"

"What have you done?" Wyatt asked Chris dangerously, stepping up to him, his face iron-hard.

"Don't blame me!" Chris retorted. "If you hadn't given me some weird poison, you wouldn't have been summoned and transported to limbo."

"Can't we try and get out of here?" Zach asked. He was scared. He had seen Wyatt torture thousands of people, even children. He knew he wouldn't hesitate to kill them.

Wyatt looked at him. "Zachary," he said, his voice icy cold. "You betrayed me."

"_Et tu, Chris?"_

"_I don't need you!"_

"_Of all the people to betray me..."_

Chris threw up his fist and punched Wyatt in the face. "Don't _ever _accuse us of betraying you!" he hissed. "You have killed every single person we care about, and all we tried to do was save you! I could have killed you as a baby. There were plenty of opportunities, you know."

Wyatt clutched his head for a second, and then turned his furious gaze to Chris. He kicked him in the stomach, and Chris fell to the ground. He hit him, over and over. Zach ran to his brother's side to try and help him, but was shoved into the wall, where he hit his head and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"You couldn't kill me, Christopher," Wyatt sneered. "You don't have the guts."

Chris was breathing shallowly, a trickle of blood dripping from his nose. He knew what Wyatt said was true. He _couldn't _kill him. He had stood over the baby Wyatt's cot for twenty minutes one day, an athame in his hand. But he just _couldn't _do it.

Wyatt stood up.

"How could you _do _that?" Chris choked. "Kill our cousins? Our aunts? Our _parents_?"

"I killed Palmyra, Patricia and Melinda to destroy the new power of three," Wyatt said icily. "It was necessary. I killed our mother and aunts, purely because they were standing in the way of our plans. Our father, because he didn't come when you called him, when our mother was dying in your arms."

Chris gave a hysterical laugh, and then started coughing. "You killed Mum because she got in the way, and our father because he didn't come to heal her?"

"No, because he didn't come when _you _called him," Wyatt answered chillingly, and for a second Chris thought he saw a flash of- _humanity_, in his brother's eyes.

"You hate me," Chris said. "Why would you care?"

"We're still _brothers_," Wyatt said. "You could be my most trusted advisor. My right hand. I know you have powers you suppressed. Not as many as _me, _of course, but some."

"Have much of a superiority complex?" Chris muttered sarcastically.

Wyatt's icy-blue eyes flashed dangerously. "You're in dangerous territory, Christopher," he said sadistically. "I'd advise you to join me, if you want Zachary to live."

Besides the wall, Zach was stirring. Chris crawled weakly over to his side. Zach struggled to sit up.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes widening at the blood on Chris' face.

Chris nodded in reply.

"I can still heal and orb, you know," Wyatt said dismissively. "There are only four words that will save you, right now. I-will-join-you."

"We are NOT going to join you!" Chris thundered. "Get that through your thick head already."

"You know, if anyone else tried what you had Christopher, I would have killed them on the spot," Wyatt replied. "But I can forgive you."

"I don't WANT your forgiveness!" Chris shouted. He began coughing, and Zach was shocked to see blood and mucus.

"Stop it!" Zach yelled to Wyatt. "Please, just heal him..."

Wyatt smiled sardonically. "All you have to do is say you'll join me, and he can be healed in an instant."

Zach bit his lip, looking at Chris, whose eyes were closed. He was breathing erratically and his face was pale.

"No, Zach," Chris murmured. "I'll be fine... I can't die here anyway... it's limbo."

"It doesn't mean you can't feel pain! Please, Wyatt," Zach begged. "Chris is our _brother_. _I'm _your brother. We _need _you."

"Not my problem," Wyatt replied frostily.

"I don't think you'll get out of here without us, you know," Zach said, changing his tactic. "No matter how powerful you are, some spells we need all the power of all three of us to work. Similar to how the power of three works."

Wyatt glared at him. "I'll find my own way out of here!"

"Fine! Go away!" Zach yelled. "We don't need you, anyway! We're _fine _by ourselves. Just _fine_."

Wyatt raised his hand and Zach could see he was planning to strike Chris away. He flinched and found that he had orbed himself and Chris to the other side of the room.

"I can orb," he muttered, surprised.

Wyatt glared at him. "Of course you can, you idiot. We all can. It was only our witch powers that were taken away."

"You don't orb normally, though," Zach replied. "You shimmer."

"See, this is why you and Christopher would be better off if you stuck with me," Wyatt informed him. "You just don't seem to understand the way magic works. I'm in the past so I have my _baby_self's powers."

Zach nodded, processing the information. He pulled his jacket off, and held it against Chris' side, trying to stop the blood.

Wyatt watched him, almost in amusement, and then started to walk off.

"Where are you going?" Zach yelled.

"To find a way out," Wyatt replied.

"Well, it seems they're all stuck in limbo," Paige muttered. This was _not _her day. She'd had to cancel the temp job they'd signed her up for, and she wasn't sure when she could get another one. She slumped back into the couch.

Leo appeared suddenly, in a swirl of blue orbs.

"Jeez, Leo, don't _do _that," Phoebe said, stepping backwards.

"Wyatt and Zach can only return with Chris," Leo explained. "And Chris can only return if he wants to."

"What do you mean _if he wants to_?" Piper asked. "He has to come back and help me save my son!"

"Well, the Elders seem to think he can only return if he has something to hold onto, a purpose to live," Leo explained. "That Phoenix, Bianca, may have been enough of a reason, but she's dead now."

Piper felt a sudden stab of guilt, remembering the way she'd treated the Chris he past few days. He had just lost someone he loved very much, and yet she'd still treated him horribly.

"Well, what do we know about him?" Phoebe asked. "Maybe there's something else we could remind him of. You know, talk to his..._ body_, and see if it brings him back to life."

They were quiet then, all trying to remember something that might help them save Chris, which would allow them to then save Wyatt and Zach.

"You guys have been around him for what, almost a year, and you _still _don't know anything about him?" Cole asked. "That's just _great_."

Piper glared at him. "Are you sure we're not allowed to kill him, Leo?"

"Believe me, I'm not liking this anymore than you are," Cole replied. They could all hear the bitterness and grief behind the sarcasm.

"Maybe we could go into his memories," Paige suggested. "We might find out something that was important to him."

Cole shook his head. "That doesn't sound like a good idea. It would almost certainly backfire."

"Nobody was asking you, demon-boy," Piper snapped.

"Demon-boy?" Cole retorted. "I'm over a thousand years old! And like I said, I am now no more demon than you are."

"Can we focus on the issue here, please?" Leo said impatiently. "We need to save our son." He bit his tongue, almost saying _sons_, but remembering that they didn't know who Zach was yet, and that Zach didn't want them to know.

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "I think we should go with the memory-spell idea."

Everyone agreed except for Cole, who was silent, knowing that they could very well find out about Chris and Zach if they just searched through Chris' memories. He didn't know _why _exactly he wanted to help Chris, but he did.

Zach, who had orbed downstairs with Chris, watched the Charmed Ones conversation with horror. He knew that they were very close to finding out who he and Chris were, and he could _not _allow that to happen.

"Wyatt?" Zach said tentatively to his oldest brother, who was trying to find his way out of the house.

"What?" he replied angrily.

"I- I need your help," Zach said cautiously.

Wyatt turned around to face him. "And why would I help you?" he sneered.

"Because our parents and Aunts are the only hope we have of getting out," Zach said bluntly. "And I could speak to them, you know."

"How?" Wyatt asked emotionlessly, his arms folded across his chest.

"Astral projection," Zach replied. He motioned to Chris' body. "We can't use our power unless all three of us focus. If you help me focus Chris' power, we can use his telekinesis to bend the Charmed Ones' spell so that it's directed at me as well. I can't physically get out of here, but I can astral project myself so I can talk to them and explain how we _can _get out of here."

"Chris can bend spells?" Zach could hear a hint of interest in Wyatt's voice.

Zach nodded. "His telekinesis evolved. It was one of the powers he suppressed actually, so he can't focus it very well."

"What makes you think I'd help you?"

It was a challenge, and Zach inwardly winced at the harshness of the tone.

"Because you're stuck here with us forever, if you don't," he said simply.

Wyatt glared at him for a minute, then nodded. "Fine. Let's do it then."

**A/N:** Sorry that chapter took so long! I meant to have it up sooner, but I had an assignment I had to finish, which I probably should have been doing instead of writing the first five chapters of the story. The next chapter should be up pretty soon, since I'm on holidays now, so keep an eye out for it. Please review!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Wow, this story is turning out to be much more popular than any of my others. Enjoy this chapter, and anything in italics is a premonition, mind voices, a spell, or memories. I'm sorry if this story is confusing, by the way. It's my first Charmed fic.

Chapter 7-

"Listen, Chris, I need you to concentrate," Zach said urgently. "Mum, Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige are going to do a spell and I need you to focus on strengthening our bond."

Chris opened his eyes. "Concentrate?" he repeated weakly. "I'm too tired to do the test today, Zach. Tell Mum I'm staying home from school..."

Zach groaned in frustration. "Chris, come on, I know you're injured, but you have to fight it, okay?" he said, gently. "We need to get out of here."

Chris closed his eyes again. His hair was plastered to his face with blood and sweat and his breathing was shallow and ragged.

"God, Wyatt, it'd be a lot easier if you just freaking healed him!" Zach said angrily. "I think he has concussion."

Wyatt scowled at his youngest brother, then reached forwards and slapped Chris on the face.

Chris' eyes flung open. "Huh?" he said groggily.

"He's awake," Wyatt said smugly, ignoring the death glares from Zach.

"Can you understand me, Chris?" Zach asked loudly and clearly.

Chris winced and put a hand up to his head. "Of course I can understand you. Don't be so _loud_."

"Sorry," Zach said sheepishly. "I need you to concentrate, okay? Try and fill up the gap there was in our minds when Wyatt broke the bond between us."

Chris nodded and closed his eyes again. "Tired," he muttered.

"I know, Chris," Zach said desperately. "You'll be fine soon, but right now I need you to focus. It's our only way of getting out of here!"

"Okay... don't know if I... try my best." Chris' muttering was barely inaudible.

"Chris?" Zach said loudly, in front of Chris' face. He shook him slightly. "Damn, he's asleep again."

"No, you idiot, he's unconscious," said Wyatt. "Focus for a moment."

Zach closed his eyes and concentrated. He could feel Wyatt and Chris slowly replacing the bond they used to share.

"How's Chris _doing _that?" Zach asked in awe. "He's unconscious."

Wyatt shot Zach a sneering look. "You really aren't very clever these days, are you, Zachary?"

Zach could slowly feel the gap in their bond closing, and he realised how lonely he had been without his brothers' presences in his mind. Just as he felt the last inches that had been separating them close, he was thrown into a premonition.

_Two men were facing each other, in what seemed to be some kind of hall. One man was wearing long robes, and was kneeling on the ground, clutching his chest in agony; his dark hair covered his face. The other had blond hair and his blue eyes were deadly cold. It was Leo._

"_Why did you do it?" he asked furiously. "WHY DID YOU DO IT?"_

_Leo pointed his hands at the first man, as lightning bolts shot out of them. The man screamed in pain, then fell to the floor, lifeless._

"_I'm not sorry," Leo said harshly, as he kicked the man's dead body. "But you all will be. Someday."_

Zach opened his eyes, shuddering. He looked at Wyatt, and was surprised to see absolute shock on the usually emotionless face.

'_Did you see that?'_ Zach almost jumped, hearing Chris' voice in his head.

'_How are you doing that?'_ he thought. _'You're unconscious.'_

'_Ask Wyatt, he seems to have figured it out_,_' _Chris' voice came, seemingly annoyed.

'_Why did Leo kill someone?' _came Chris' voice again.

'_More to the point, why did we have a premonition about it?' _Wyatt's mind voice was uncharacteristically dreamy.

'_Why did we have a premonition at _all_?' _Zach replied.

'_Still haven't figured that out, dear Zachary?' _Wyatt replied patronizingly. _'I can use my powers now, too.'_

'_We all can,' _said Zach. _'But I still don't get how it works. None of us had the power of premonition before.'_

'_When Prudence, Palmyra and Patricia died, we inherited the power of three,' _replied Wyatt, smugly. _'Thanks to my terrific spell-work. It was a pity I couldn't inherit it entirely by myself, but this was close enough.'_

'_WHAT?' _Zach's mind voice was furious, and he could feel Chris' anger.

'_Don't annoy me, Zachary,' _Wyatt said cheerfully. _'I'm in a good mood, but if I need to use my powers on you, I will.'_

'_No time for that,' _Chris' mind voice broke into their conversation. _'For some reason I managed to dig into Zach's powers without him specifically focusing on it. I think it's your spell, Wyatt. Anyway, I astral-projected downstairs so I could concentrate properly, and Mum, Aunt Paige and Aunt Phoebe are about to do the spell. You have to try and talk to them, Zach. I'm not strong enough at the moment to keep my astral form that long, and we can't let them find out who I really am. As soon as they say the spell get ready to go, Zach. You're our only hope.'_

'_Okay, then,' _Zach replied. _'Get ready to focus, guys.'_

Zach closed his eyes, as his body became limp.

"Ready?" asked Phoebe nervously. She had a bad feeling about this, but she swept it away with her curiosity to find out about Chris' past. And her future.

Piper and Paige nodded eagerly, and chanted the spell they had come up with.

"_Hear these words, _

_Heed this rhyme._

_Send us three, _

_Through space and time. _

_Send us through the mind of Chris Perry, _

_His memories we wish to see."_

They each felt as though they were being broken up into tiny pieces, but before they had time to muse at the strange sensation, they had been reassembled, but it another place.

_They were standing in a cold dark, dungeon. Their dead sister Prue was lying next to the wall, her wrists in chains. Her clothes were ripped, and they could see from her large stomach that she was clearly pregnant. A boy of about ten with a mop of brown hair and sea-green eyes was standing besides her, and the sisters recognized him as Chris._

"_Aunt Prue!" he said, his voice desperate. "I- they're not answering my calls."_

_**Piper, Phoebe and Paige all gasped.**_

"**Aunt_ Prue?" Piper repeated._**

"_**That's right," came a cold voice. Zach. "Are you happy now you've managed to start prying through Chris' memories? Does it **_**satisfy ****_you to see the pain other people have gone through?"_**

_**Piper opened her mouth to ask him how he got there, but closed it when she heard her sister start to speak.**_

"_Chris, its too late, sweetie," Prue said, her voice weak. "The baby's gone, and I will be too soon. I'm proud of you though, you did everything you could. The demon won't be able to hurt anyone else now, thanks to you, and that's all that matters."_

"_No! You can't leave me!" Chris said, urgently. "Look, I can't orb here, but I can try and find a way out, and then I'll take you to a hospital-"_

"_No, Chris. It's too late," Prue said sadly. "That arrow was fatal, you know that. I love you though, and I always will. Tell that to my sisters and your brothers and cousins too, okay?"_

"_No!" Chris yelled, as her eyes closed and her breathing ceased. He sank to the ground, sobbing, and his head in his hands._

"_**Does that mean- Chris is the son of one of us?" Phoebe asked, though still shaken after seeing her sister die again. "We were so **_**horrible ****_to him!"_**

_**Zach shot them an unreadable look. "Would you really believe me if I said no?" he asked cryptically. "But you might have adopted him or something."**_

"_**No, he's definitely a Halliwell," Piper said, wiping her eyes. "But whose child?"**_

_The images swirled again, and they found themselves in the dining room at the manor. A little boy with curly blond hair and sparkling blue eyes was sitting at the table, a cake in front of him. He looked about eight years old. Chris, who looked about six, was sitting besides him. Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Prue and Leo all stood around the table. A boy, who looked about two, and very much like Chris, was sitting on Chris' lap and there was a little girl with a heart-shaped face and long brown hair being held by Phoebe._

"_Daddy will be back soon," Phoebe whispered to the little girl. "He's out with your uncle and baby cousins."_

"_He's _always _out," the girl replied sadly. "He doesn't care about us."_

"_No, that's not true, Melly," Phoebe replied cheerfully. "He loves us. He just wishes he was more involved in the family."_

"_He thinks we don't love him just because he's a witch doesn't he?" the girl Phoebe called 'Melly' said sadly. "I know; I could feel his hurt."_

_Phoebe's grip tightened slightly on the child, but she just turned to Piper. "Should we cut the cake now?" she asked. "Remember last year, you accidentally blew it up."_

_Piper winced. "Um, yes, you're right, we should," she replied._

_**They listened to the family singing happy birthday to the blond boy, who turned out to be Wyatt.**_

"_**Why were all the other conversations muffled except Phoebe's?" Piper asked.**_

_**Zach shrugged. "That's what Chris remembers about this day, I guess," he replied.**_

"_**Who's the father of my child?" Phoebe asked, her mouth still open slightly in surprise.**_

"_**I can't say," Zach said apologetically.**_

"_**Do I-" Paige began, but she was interrupted by Zach.**_

"_**No," he said. "We have to get out of this memory. I only came to tell you how to free Chris, anyway. Wyatt's blood is no longer required, as he is **_**with ****_Chris, and his presence there is tied to Chris' life. You need to find something happy to remind him of."_**

"**You're _the one who knows him!" Piper snapped._**

"_**I've barely seen him the last year or so!" Zach replied, annoyed. "And since then, almost everything he cares about has been ripped away from him."**_

"_Make a wish," Leo said, smiling at his eldest son._

_Wyatt thought for a moment, and then closed his eyes. A small horse appeared besides the table, in a swirl of blue lights._

"_What's that?" Piper asked, jumping back. Her sisters laughed in amusement._

"_My wish," Wyatt said as though it was obvious._

_Leo patted Wyatt on the shoulder. "That's my boy!" he said, his voice brimming with pride. "The most powerful witch in the family." He glanced at the boy on Chris' lap. "But it looks like your youngest brother will be pretty strong too. He can already orb!"_

_The look on Chris' face was heartbreaking._

"**Youngest _brother?" Piper cried. "Chris is _my _son?"_**

_**Zach nodded, almost guiltily.**_

"_**We were horrible to him!" Piper sobbed. Phoebe hugged her.**_

"_**What about the other boy?" Paige asked, a glint in her eye. "Who's he?"**_

_**Zach shifted uncomfortably. "I can't say."**_

_**Paige smirked at him, and he realised she knew who he was, even if his mother and Phoebe didn't.**_

"_**I can't believe Chris is my nephew!" Phoebe said, a hand over her mouth. "Oh, no! I totally hit on him when we turned into goddesses."**_

"_**Ugh," Zach said in disgust.**_

_They could feel themselves moving, as the memories changed again..._

Wyatt sat there, next to his two brother's unconscious forms. He could see several of Zach's thoughts float through his mind, but Chris had a tight shield on his.

'_I can't do this much longer,' _Chris' mind voice broke into Wyatt's thoughts, and he knew Zach had heard it too. _'I'm getting weaker.'_

There was a pause._ 'Aunt Phoebe says the spell has to wear off,' _Zach told them, and both his brothers could feel his frustration.

'_Have they found out anything?' _Chris asked in a panic.

Another pause. _'Uh, we'll talk later, okay, Chris?' _Zach said, before entirely shielding himself from Wyatt and Zach's thoughts and mind voices.

Wyatt was startled as he saw Chris regain consciousness. "I'm drawing strength from Zach," Chris muttered. "But I'm not sure how long I've got. If I get seriously injured, I might not be strong enough to get back to my body."

Wyatt said nothing, and Chris tilted his head slightly to look at him.

"Why do you hurt everyone, Wy?" he asked, wearily.

Wyatt felt a stab of guilt, which quickly turned to anger as he remembered that Chris was the only one who could make him feel like that. Well, Chris and Zach. He felt himself wanting to say something to reassure Chris, but he couldn't think of anything.

"You should be grateful!" he snapped. "I've made the world a better place for you to live in?"

Chris gave a shallow laugh. "Better? You killed the Charmed Ones- _both _generations –the last hope the world had left."

"Chris, I- I didn't kill Mum," Wyatt muttered, staring blankly at the wall.

"Do you really expect me to believe the sob-story about the demon you told everyone else?" Chris sneered.

"I made a deal with a demon," Wyatt said. "A Shape-shifter, to be more precise. They tried to kill me, and they would have, but I offered to kill a Charmed One in exchange for my life. I killed Aunt Paige, since she had developed healing powers, and would have interrupted my plans anyway. They said then, that since I killed one of the demons in the process, they were going to kill Mum as well. An eye for an eye. I made another deal, to kill Aunt Phoebe instead of Mum, but the Shape-shifters turned into me anyway, and killed Mum, pretending I did it. By then I was powerful, and the only people I cared to tell the truth to didn't believe me. You and Zachary."

"That's rubbish, Wyatt!" Chris snapped. "I saw you kill her!"

Wyatt shrugged. "Believe what you want. It doesn't matter now."

Chris closed his eyes. He was tired. So tired. He could feel Zach getting weaker, from the energy he was collecting from him, and he knew he would have to stop soon.

"I'm going to die soon," Chris said softly. "But it's not like you'd care, is it? Have you figured out a way to drain my powers, yet?"

Wyatt swallowed. "I care, Christopher," he said, though his voice was cold. "But if you hadn't defied me, I wouldn't have injured you. It's your fault that you're suffering."

"I'm not ready to die," Chris muttered, choosing to ignore Wyatt's words.

Wyatt felt another pang of guilt for putting his brother like this. He put a hand on Chris' face and brushed the hair out of his eyes. A golden glow appeared, and Chris' face healed. Wyatt jumped back like he had been burned.

"Why did you heal my face?" Chris said, almost angrily, trying to sit up. "I don't _need _your help!"

"I didn't mean to!" Wyatt protested.

Chris sighed, and sank back to the floor.

"So..." Leo said, trying to think of something to say to Cole.

Cole swished the coffee around in his mug, and stared out the window.

"Nice day, isn't it?" Leo asked, gesturing wildly towards the sky, his eyes on the floor.

"There's a thunderstorm going on," Cole said, shooting a strange look at Leo.

"Um, yeah," Leo replied, looking out the window for the first time that day. "I didn't realize."

They sat in silence for several minutes, Cole staring out the window, and Leo looking everywhere but at Cole.

"More coffee?" Leo asked.

Cole nodded, and couldn't help feeling thankful when Leo walked out of the living room.

_What a strange guy_, Cole thought.

"_Bastard," a teenage Chris spat towards his father._

"_Chris, the Elders vanquished Onathe for your own good," Leo said patiently. "You were in danger associating with him. He was a demon."_

"_Half-demon," Chris replied angrily. "And he was my _friend_! He didn't even _know _his demon father; his mother raised him! It wasn't _vanquishing _it was killing! Your pathetic Elder buddies murdered him in cold blood!"_

"_**Why are all these memories bad?" Piper asked, feeling sick to her stomach, having just seen her son witness his best friend's murder.**_

_**Zach met her eyes. "Most of his life was bad," he said quietly.**_

_The image swirled, yet again. Piper was standing in the attic, Chris besides her. He looked about fourteen, and Wyatt, looking slightly older, was standing in front of them with an athame._

"_Ready to die, _Mother_," he sneered, maliciously._

"_No! DON'T!" Chris yelled, running throwing himself at Wyatt, but it was too late..._

**A/N:** Sorry if that was confusing. If you have any questions, just PM me. Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** All italics in this chapter are either memories or dreams. Enjoy!

Chapter 8-

_Wyatt raised the athame high above his head, and brought it down. Piper cried out as blood gushed out from a wound in her side, and she fell to the ground. Wyatt laughed and shimmered out._

"_**I think I'm going to be sick," Piper muttered, holding a hand over her mouth.**_

"_Mum, no, please, you don't have to die," a hysterical Chris said._

_She looked at him, her eyes filling with tears. But she wouldn't cry, not in front of her son._

"_Dad!" Chris yelled desperately. "Dad! Please come; I need you! _Mum_ needs you! DAD!"_

"_Listen to me, Peanut," Piper said faintly. "It's okay. Everything happens for a reason."_

"_I'm sorry, Mum," Chris said, tears shining in his eyes. "It's my fault. If only I could-"_

"_No. No this is _not _your fault, Chris," Piper said firmly. "It's Wyatt's, and whoever turned him."_

"_Mum, please you can't go, I'll be all alone," Chris cried._

"_No, sweetie, you'll be fine," Piper promised. "And you'll never be alone. I'll be looking after you and your brothers, even Wyatt. Look after your cousins."_

_Her eyes closed._

"_You can't die!" Chris whimpered. "I love you!"  
_

"_I love you too, Peanut," Piper whispered, her eyes closing._

"_No! No, please!" howled Chris. But it was too late._

_Chris wrapped his arms around his knees. The attic was silent except for his wracking sobs, as he rocked back and forwards. All of a sudden, the room began to shake._

_Leo orbed in, looking annoyed. "Chris, I could feel the power surge all the way 'Up There'! Why on earth are you making the room-"_

_His face drained of all colour as he saw Piper, lying dead on the floor._

"_What- what happened?" Leo asked in shock._

"_Wyatt _killed _her!" Chris said. "I called and called for you but you didn't come/"_

"_I was in a meeting," Leo said softly, and then his face hardened. "And don't you dare make up such horrible lies about your brother. I know you're jealous of him, but-"_

"_Lies?" Chris replied, now furious. "You're such an IDIOT, Leo! Do you have your head in the clouds, or something? Well, I suppose you and your Elder pals all do. For the last three years, Wyatt has managed to take over most of the country! Most of the witches here are _dead _thanks to your precious Twice-blessed son. He's the ruler of the Underworld!"_

"_Liar," Leo hissed. "I know you're upset, but there's no need to blame your brother. All he's ever done is protected you, and this is the thanks he gets."_

"_Get OUT!" Chris yelled._

"_This is my house too," Leo replied._

"_Not anymore!" Chris said angrily. "We only put up with you for Mum's sake and now she's gone. Wyatt's hardly ever around, so now the Manor belongs to Zach and I. We'll be living here with Mel, Myra and Cia. I'm sure Grandpa wouldn't mind moving in here, too."_

"_**Zach and I?" Phoebe asked, startled.**_

"_**Just watch!" Zach replied. "I promise, I'll tell you anything you want to know as soon as we get out of here."**_

"_Fine!" Leo replied, coldly. "Now that Wyatt's left, I suppose I don't really have any reason to stay, do I?"_

_And with that, he orbed out. Chris sank to the floor again, cradling his mother's hand._

"_**I am **_**so ****_going to kill Leo as soon as we get out of here," Phoebe muttered. Paige and Piper both nodded in agreeance._**

"_**No!" Zach said angrily. "I assure you, I want him dead just as much as you do, probably more, but he hasn't done anything yet. We have to keep him alive, if only so Chris and I can be born."**_

"_**So, you are my son?" Piper choked out. "I'm so sorry, I was horrible to you and Zach..."**_

"_**It's okay, Piper. Really," Zach told her, turning away before he could see the hurt look on her face. "You didn't know. Besides, you're not really the Mum I knew. Not for years..."**_

_They could feel themselves getting swept into another memory. Chris looked about twenty, here. He was in a dungeon, again, but this one was lined with cold, steel beds, with thin white covers. There was a sink at one end of the room, and two doors, one besides the sink, one opposite it. The woman they recognized as Bianca sat besides Chris on a bed. She looked only slightly older than Chris._

"_The spies were captured," she said, in a low voice._

_Chris nodded his head slightly. "I expected it," he said expressionlessly._

"_You have to go back, you know," Bianca said, looking at him intensely. "You're the only one who can. And we have _no_ hope, here."_

"_It could seriously mess up things!" Chris snapped. "Do you really want that to happen?"_

"_I don't _care _what happens, as long as you go back and kill that bastard!" Bianca retorted._

"_I can't," Chris replied despairingly. "I couldn't kill a baby. Especially not my brother."_

"_Chris, you have killed dozens of people!" Bianca said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "What's so different about a baby?"_

"_Nothing," Chris muttered. "You're right. I'll go back and I'll kill him."_

"_**Chris was planning on **_**killing ****_Wyatt?" Piper asked, hysterically._**

_**Zach nodded uneasily. "Well, yes, but you don't know what he's **_**done****_. He's destroyed most of the world, Piper. You need to get used to the fact that he isn't some sweet little toddler in our world. He's a monster."_**

_**Piper flinched, hearing her name; somewhat wishing he would call her Mum.**_

"_**Is he still trying to kill Wyatt?" Paige asked, uncharacteristically serious.**_

"_**He can't," Zach replied. "He lied to Bianca. It's true, he's killed dozens of people, but I guess in the end, he couldn't kill his own brother."**_

_Once again, the memories changed. Chris was kneeling in a cemetery, and he seemed about the same age as in the last memory, perhaps younger. The sky was grey and lined with clouds, and there was absolute silence. They could see the city ruins, far away, though very obvious._

_Four headstones were standing in a row, each with a different description on it. One headstone was obviously a lot older than the rest. They edged closer, to see the four different names. 'Prudence', 'Piper', 'Phoebe' and 'Paige'._

"_**Oh, god," Phoebe said breathlessly. "We're all dead."**_

"_**Poor Chris," Paige muttered. "And you too, Zach."**_

_**Zach shook his head. "It wasn't so hard for me. But Chris witnessed every one of your deaths."**_

"_I'm sorry," Chris said, looking at each individual headstone. "For everything. Not saving you, not saving Wyatt, kicking out Leo, not doing more to save Grandpa –everything." He looked up at the grey sky. "I'm not so neurotic now, huh? I probably shouldn't be standing out in the open talking right now, but I can't bring myself to care. I just wanted to talk to you, even if you can't reply. If there's even a small chance you can hear me..."_

"_**My poor baby," Piper cried. "He thinks it's his fault!"**_

"_**He **_**always ****_thinks it's his fault," sighed Zach._**

"_I'm not sure if I can stop him, but I'm going to do everything I can to save Wyatt," Chris continued, sighing. "Come to think of it, he's probably got this place bugged. If you can hear me though, please remember I love you. And I'm sorry."_

_And with that, the three sisters and Zach could feel themselves being pulled out of the memories, and into the real world._

"I'm going to die soon," Chris said uncaringly.

Wyatt paled considerably. "You've got hours left!"

Chris tilted his head in what was plainly supposed to be a shrug. "It doesn't matter. Zach can handle what I was going to do."

Wyatt growled. "You're both coming back to the future with me. If I have to, I'll control you both with a spell."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Too bad, Wyatt," he replied. "I don't think they're going to find a way to save me. I'm not sure if I even _want _to be saved."

"Of course you want to!" Wyatt replied harshly. "Don't be stupid. Nothing's worse than being _dead_."

"Yeah. Right," Chris replied sarcastically.

"Anyway, if you simply promised to willingly come back to the future with me, I'd heal you," Wyatt told him.

"What makes you think I'd keep that promise?" Chris sneered. "I've lied plenty of times before."

"Not to me," said Wyatt. "I know you, Chris."

"They're back!" said Chris, pointing at the three sisters whose spirits had reappeared in their bodies next to the couch. A similar thing had happened to Zach, besides them.

"How do we get him back?" Chris could hear Phoebe saying to her sisters, standing over Chris' real body.

Tears were streaming down Piper's cheeks. "I don't know if we can. Zach never told us what to say."

"Those memories were supposed to _help _us," said Paige, frustrated. "What did they tell us?"

"That Chris is lonely and led a horrible life," Piper replied. "That I'm a terrible mother."

Piper leaned forwards and stroked Chris' hair.

"Look, Chris, I know I'm not the mother you knew, but if you give me a chance, I'm sure I could become her," she said, tears coarsing down her cheeks. "I barely know you, but I'm still proud of you. I love you... Peanut."

Chris felt himself disappearing. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was lying on the couch in his body.

"Mum?" he said, almost dreamily, at Piper standing before him.

"Sleep, sweetie," she whispered, running her hand down his face lovingly.

And he slept.

"I just- can't believe it," Piper whispered, sitting on the ground, besides Zach. Paige and Phoebe had wanted to talk in the kitchen, but Piper wouldn't leave Chris' side. Wyatt had left, with a malicious promise that he'd be coming back soon. Zach had seen a thought that had flittered through his mind, and knew it was because he didn't entirely trust the demons he had left his baby-self with. Piper would have been more worried about her baby son, except she didn't think Wyatt would take any chances with himself.

"Was I a good Mum?" Piper asked Zach.

"You were a _great _Mum," Zach replied, smiling at her.

"I hope Leo and Cole are back soon," Phoebe said, glancing at her watch.

"You can't blame Cole for wanting to get some fresh air," Paige replied, glancing out the window. "Did you figure out what we're going to tell them?"

"Leo can't know," Zach said bluntly.

"Why not?" Phoebe asked; her brow furrowed in confusion.

"I just don't want him to know," Zach replied stubbornly. "And neither does Chris. Will you _please _keep this a secret?"

"You know me with secrets," Phoebe said, smiling, rather happily. "I'll try, but- I can't make any guarantees."

Zach sighed, and then nodded. "I guess that'll have to do."

"_Hello?" Chris called. He was in a plain, brown room with no windows, doors or any way of getting out. Instantly, someone orbed in. He looked almost identical to Wyatt, except he had shorter hair and was wearing jeans and a red t-shirt instead of the black Wyatt always wore. The most noticeable difference, however, was the warm look on his face._

"_Wyatt?" Chris asked in confusion._

_The boy nodded happily. "Though I'm not the Wyatt you know. I'm the Wyatt that should be. The one that _will _be if you save me from turning."_

"_Do you know who did it?" Chris asked._

"_Yes," the boy whispered, now looking cautiously around the room. "I'm not sure if they can here me now, though..."_

"_We'll have to take that chance," Chris said grimly._

"_Chris... Aunt Prue's death... she was pregnant," Wyatt told him._

"_I know!" Chris replied, slightly frustrated. "I was there, remember?"_

"_Who would want to kill the child of a Charmed One?" Wyatt asked him. "Because _someone _hired that demon. Someone who didn't think I should have been born..."_

_He disappeared with one last smile, just as Chris started drifting back to sleep._

"He's stirring," Phoebe said softly, looking at Chris.

He shifted. "Wyatt..." he muttered.

"No, sweetie, it's Mum," Piper said. "Wyatt's gone."

Chris opened his eyes. "Piper?" he asked in surprise.

"No, _Mum_," she replied firmly.

"Ugh, great," Chris muttered. "What did I let slip?"

"Well, it wasn't you, we went back in your memories to save you," Piper explained. "But we found out who you and Zach really are! Don't worry, Zach made us promise not to tell Leo."

Chris sighed. "He already knows about Zach." He glanced at his brother. "You really need to shield some of those thoughts."

Zach glared at him.

"So, we should probably try and find baby Wyatt," Chris said. "He's still with big Wyatt isn't he?"

"Yes he is, but _you're _not going anyway," Piper said. "You need to rest!"

"Look, Piper, I appreciate the concern, but I just can't-" Chris stopped, realizing he didn't know what exactly to say.

"Look, I saw my death in your memories, Chris, but we're going to change all that," Piper told him gently.

Chris' face hardened. "I _told _you, that some things had to _stay _in the future!" Chris said angrily. "Future consequences, _remember_?"

The Charmed Ones looked slightly ashamed of themselves.

"We just wanted to _help _you," Paige pleaded.

Leo and Cole chose that moment to walk in.

"Hey, guys! Good to see you're all okay," Leo said cheerfully.

They sat in awkward silence for a few moments, as Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Chris and Zach all glared at Leo.

"Um, baby Wyatt? Remember?" said Chris, realizing he was wasting precious demon-hunting time.

"Relax," Piper told him. "If he's with his grown-up Wyatt, he'll be safe."

"Maybe the grown-up Wyatt is what turns him evil," Paige mused.

Chris shook his head. "He didn't come back in the original timeline unless he did it in secret. And..." He wondered briefly whether he should tell them about his dream, then decided against it.

"And what?" Paige persisted.

Chris shook his head. "Nothing."

"Can't we summon baby Wyatt?" Cole asked.

The others looked at him, as though just realizing he was there.

"Wyatt was have shielded him after what happened the first time," Chris replied.

Phoebe was looking from Leo to Piper to Chris to Zach, wondering how she could have missed it. Chris and Zach had Piper's cheekbones and hair, Leo's eyes...

"Yes, Phoebe?" Leo asked. Phoebe realised she had been staring at him too long.

"Nothing, Leo," she said, smiling nervously.

Suddenly, somebody orbed in, and threw an energy ball at the wall. They all jumped, and turned around to face the figure. It was Wyatt.

"Where is my baby-self?" he roared angrily, another energy ball forming in his hand. "Where did you take him?"

"We didn't take him!" Chris said. "We were looking for him as well, as a matter of fact."

Now Wyatt looked confused, and all traces of the evil-tyrant disappeared. The energy ball in his hand disintegrated.

"You didn't?" he asked, calming down.

"No, but we're going to find him," Zach said calmly. "Now, can you please leave?"

Chris and Zach were probably the only two people who would speak back to Wyatt in their world, and it appeared this one was pretty much the same. Phoebe and Paige looked horrified, and Leo and Piper looked upset. Cole looked faintly amused.

Wyatt chucked some more energy balls and some lightning at the wall, then left.

"We're lucky he has bad aim," Paige said appreciating.

Chris snickered. "Bad aim? No, he actually has very good aim. I should know. I'm pretty sure that was just to scare us."

"Oh," Paige muttered.

"Haven't you all realised what this means?" Piper shrieked. "My baby son is _missing_!"

And they finally grasped the gravity of the situation.

**A/N: **Well, it's finally starting to get interesting. I'll probably have Leo find out who Chris is in the next chapter. As to the dream Chris had, I wasn't sure who to put as the 'messenger' but decided on Wyatt in the end. Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm not sure whether or not to do a sequel to this, and how this fic ends will depend on whether or not I do. Please tell me in a review whether I should do a sequel or not, and if so, whether you want it to be about Chris' life in the future after he returns, or about his life if he stays in the past. Or, of course, if I should kill him off. I'm also interested in which of the season six and season seven episode plots you all think I should include in this story. Everything in italics is their mind voices. Oh, and sorry if I got the thing with Tempus wrong, I thought they vanquished him but I'm not sure. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and please review!

Chapter 9-

"How are we going to find Wyatt?" Piper sobbed. "I was right, I'm a terrible mother..."

"Don't _ever _say that," Chris said harshly. "_Ever_."

Leo looked at Chris in slight confusion, and then shrugged inwardly. The kid was weird; that was for sure. He must be around Zach and Wyatt a lot in the future.

"Oh, and Leo?" Zach said, turning towards his father. "They know. I told them."

"What else did you find in his memories?" Leo asked eagerly, looking at the sisters, who all shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"Nothing," Paige said casually.

"Nothing _much_," corrected Piper, shrugging awkwardly.

Leo looked at her with an expression of disbelief. "Piper, we were married for several years. I know when you're lying."

Phoebe looked like she was about to burst. She had one hand clapped over her mouth, and she gestured wildly towards Chris with the other one.

"Yes, Phoebe? What do you want to tell me?" Leo asked, knowing he'd most likely get information from her.

"Chris is your son!" she practically yelled out, and then groaned, sinking back, her head in her hands.

"See, this is why I always liked Paige," Chris muttered. "At least you could tell her something knowing that not _all_ of San Francisco would hear about it."

"Hey, that's harsh," protested Phoebe.

"My _son_?" Leo gasped. The rest of them looked at him, seeming to just realize he was there.

"Yes, your _son, _Leo. As in your _child_," Cole told him, rolling his eyes.

Leo didn't even bother wondering how Cole knew. He jumped to his feet.

"You-" he pointed at Chris. "-Can _not _be my son."

"You're right, Leo," Chris replied. "I'm not your son. You lost the right to be called _Dad _years ago."

"Look, he's somehow hoodwinked you all," Leo told the Charmed Ones desperately. "There is _no _way he's my son. I'm starting to doubt that even _Zach _is."

"Just what I've been saying," Chris muttered. Without waiting for an answer, he orbed out.

"Good one, _Leo_," Zach said angrily, shooting his father a death glare, before orbing out after his brother.

"Did you _have _to do that?" a very pissed-off Piper asked. "Our son almost _died _and you've practically denied his existence!"

"Look, Piper, you have to see reason," Leo protested. "He just- well, he _can't _be our son."

"Why not?" Piper challenged.

"He just-" Leo stopped. "Fine! I'll go and find a way to save Wyatt on my own!" he stormed out of the room.

Piper sighed. "Great, now all _three _of my sons are missing."

"Is there anything I can do?" Cole asked, rather apologetically.

Piper eyed him mistrustfully. "You just- stay here and don't try to kill yourself again." She looked around at her sisters. "Paige, can you stay with him? You can help me look through the Book upstairs if you want, Phoebes." She looked Phoebe in the eye and knew her sister got the message.

"No, it's okay, I'll stay up here with Cole," she said, looking around at her sisters. "Paige might get the urge to kill him herself otherwise."

Piper laughed, knowing how much her youngest sister hated Cole. She nodded hesitantly, and went upstairs with Paige.

"I don't think it's fair to blame Leo, you know," Zach told his brother, once they were standing on his favourite place, the Golden Gate Bridge. "It's like blaming baby Wyatt for what his grown-up self has done."

"I _do _blame baby Wyatt though," Chris replied immediately. "Besides, you blame Leo too."

"Only 'cause you do," Zach replied.

Chris shrugged. "Look, we have to find baby Wyatt," he told Zach. "I say we look in the Book."

"That's your solution to _everything_," Zach grumbled good-naturedly.

"Only because it works," Chris told him, grinning. Then his face hardened. "_Most _of the time."

"Chris! Zach! You're back!" Piper exclaimed, running to hug them as they orbed into the attic. Zach returned the hug cheerfully, but Chris stiffened, then stepped back.

"We just came to look in the book," said Chris, already flicking through the pages.

"Can't that wait a second?" Paige protested. "We were wondering if we could ask you some stuff-"

"Later," Chris replied distractedly.

"Just one question?" Piper pleaded.

"Piper, you don't seem to grasp what this means!" Chris replied, frustrated. "You didn't live in the future; you don't know what it's like. For months I've been working on keeping Wyatt safe, and now he's been kidnapped! I shouldn't have let that happen; I shouldn't have gotten injured!"

"Told you so," Zach muttered under his breath. There was no need to explain what he meant; Piper and Paige could both tell that this was Chris' newest case of blaming himself.

"Oh, sweetie, it's not your fault," Piper told him.

Chris ignored her, flipping through the book. "He'd most likely be protected from summoning spells, but we could try scrying from him," he said, more to himself than anyone else.

"I'll get something of his to scry with," Paige told them.

As soon as Paige had left, a figure orbed in. It was Leo.

"Oh. You're here," he said, glaring at Chris, who just rolled his eyes.

"What sort of proof do you want that we are your _biological _children?" Zach asked furiously. He pulled the sleeve of his shirt right up, so they could see the black triquetra tattooed to his shoulder. "Do you really think anyone other than a Halliwell would have this mark on them? Chris has one too."

"You got a _tattoo_?" Piper exclaimed. "How old were you?"

"Twelve," Zach replied quietly, pulling his sleeve down.

"You got a tattoo at _twelve_?" Piper said.

Zach shrugged. "The world was already starting to fall apart. I just told the guy doing it I was eighteen, and that was enough for him. People needed the money, you see, and were prepared to overlook that sort of thing. Companies started going out of business pretty soon after that, which is one of the reasons that Chris and I never finished school. I-"

"Future consequences!" Chris interrupted loudly.

"You never finished _school_?" Piper repeated, horrified.

"It doesn't matter, they aren't your sons!" Leo said loudly, causing everyone to look at him. "There is just _no way _it's possible."

Piper turned around to face her husband, fuming. "You are the most idiotic person I have ever met in my entire life, Leo Wyatt!" she hissed angrily. "Look at them! They look quite like each other; both of them have your eyes, my cheekbones, Phoebe's smile and Paige's sarcasm. From what I can tell, Chris has telekinesis- Prue's power –and Zach has molecular combustion, which is _my _power. They both apparently have tattoos of the triquetra; they're familiar around the Manor and know quite a lot about our lives. Besides that, they can also touch the book. _What does that tell us?_"

Leo had gone stark white. "Oh, god," he whispered. " I am so sorry."

"How many times have I heard that before?" Chris asked, turning to Zach, who looked just as mad as Chris.

"I didn't know," Leo said desperately.

"Whatever, Leo, save it, 'cause we _don't care_," Chris replied. "Tell that to the only child of yours who _isn't _wanting your blood on his hands."

"Uh, Chris, Wyatt _does _have Leo's blood on his hands," Zach pointed out. "He killed him."

Chris tilted his head to the side slightly. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that," he said. "Oh well. For now, we have to _focus _on finding him.'

Leo's mouth was wide open in shock. He orbed out.

"And don't tell me that was harsh, because you don't know what he's done," Chris said. It was quite obvious he meant Piper, even though he didn't look up from the book.

"I do, Chris; I saw my death," she told him.

Chris looked up. "You _saw _it?" he said, practically shouting. Anyone who thought the whitelighter-witch had no feelings would be very surprised just then.

"We won't let it happen this time," Piper promised.

"Don't you _get _it?" Chris said angrily. "I was the only one there! And I let you die! How can you even stand to _look _at me?"

"Because I know it wasn't your fault," Piper replied calmly.

"I was the only one there, Piper, how was it _not _my fault?" he replied, turning away from her.

"Because you weren't the one who killed me," she replied softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. As she expected, he stiffened, and she would have tried to hug him if Paige hadn't entered the room.

"I found something!" she said brightly, holding up Wyatt's pacifier.

"I was thinking something a little more... personal," Piper said, looking at it.

Paige frowned. "He's a baby, what's more personal than a pacifier?"

Piper sighed, already starting to scry for him.

"So... how are you?" Phoebe asked Cole, and then winced at how stupid she sounded.

"Well, I've just been brought back from the dead, by the very people who killed me," Cole said. "I'm a little confused about why you don't want me to die, but apart from that, yeah, I'm good."

"I do so want you to die!" Phoebe replied immediately, and then winced. "Oh. I didn't mean to say that."

"Don't worry," said Cole, turning away from her. "At least you're being honest with me."

"No, I'm not..." Phoebe trailed off. "I mean I am. I mean- Argh, this is so annoying. Hey, did you know I got a new power?"

Her change of subject was very obvious, but thankfully Cole took the hint. "Yeah. I've been watching you guys ever since I died."

"Oh," Phoebe replied, dumbfounded. "That's kinda creepy. Like, stalker creepy."

Cole laughed. "What else could I do? Nothing. I couldn't even _talk _to anyone."

"Uh-huh," Phoebe replied, squirming nervously. Her empath powers were driving her crazy; she could feel Cole's pain and now felt incredibly guilty knowing that she caused it.

"Chris?" said Piper.

"Yeah?" he replied absently, watching Paige scry for Wyatt.

"Why was Prue in your future?" Piper asked quietly.

"I can't tell you!" Chris asked, throwing his hands up in frustration. He looked at his mother and relented, seeing her disappointed look.

"She came back as a whitelighter," Chris said. "And that's _all _I'm saying."

"Paige and Phoebe had children, didn't they?" Piper asked. "Could you tell me about them? And who were the fathers?"

"I can't say!" Chris replied irritably. "Look, I know you want information about the future, but it's not just some kind of game!"

Zach saw his mother's hurt face and decided to try and soften Chris' words.

"We've already said too much," Zach told Piper, then seeing the look on Chris' face, said quickly, "Okay, _I've _said too much."

"This isn't working!" Paige said, sighing and throwing down the pacifier. "I just can't seem to find Wyatt _anywhere_!"

"Maybe his grown-up self could find him by scrying," Chris said thoughtfully. "Zach and I could call him through our minds using our bond."

"Your 'bond'? How exactly does that work?" Paige questioned.

Chris shrugged. "It's just a link the three of us share. We could actually use it to rip apart each other's minds and kill each other if we really wanted to."

"What if Wyatt tries something like that?" Piper asked, looking very nervous.

Chris and Zach looked at each other, trying to figure out how to explain it.

"The idea of using something so _sacred_..." Zach stopped. "I don't think even Wyatt could do that."

Piper nodded. "Okay, well then should we call him?"

"It's up to you, Mum," Zach said.

Piper beamed, hearing Zach refer to her as his mother.

'_Why did you do that?'_ came Chris' voice in Zach's head.

'_Do what?'_

'_Call her Mum,'_ Chris replied.

'_She likes it,_' Zach replied. '_You really hurt her feelings before, you know_.'

'_Zach... I don't want you to get hurt. When we go back to the future, she may not _be_ there_.'

'_Well, in that case I want to enjoy the time I have with her, Chris,' Zach replied. 'You should too. You _need_ her, Chris_.'

"Hello?" Paige said, waving her hand in Chris and Zach's face. "Are you listening?"

Chris blinked. "Uh, yeah. So, are we going to call Wyatt?"

Paige and Piper nodded.

"'K then," he replied.

'_Wyatt_?' he asked in his mind.

'_Yes, little brother_?' came the amused reply.

'_Will you help us_?' It was Zach this time.

'_Why should I_?' Wyatt's voice came, almost a whine.

'_We need you to scry for yourself_,' Chris told him, matter-of-factly.

'_Ha. I can find myself without your help_,' he replied, and then it was as though a block had come up between them. Not the permanent block, but that told Chris and Zach that Wyatt wouldn't be replying to their calls unless they tried a different approach.

"He refused," Chris said heavily.

"How are we supposed to find him, then?" Piper said desperately.

Chris shrugged. "Maybe another spell..."

Paige shook her head. "If scrying doesn't work, I don't think a spell would," she replied. She looked at Piper. "We haven't eaten in _hours_. Why don't we have dinner, then maybe check if there's anything at Magic School that would help us?"

Piper sighed then nodded.

"You're just going to _give up_?" Chris exclaimed.

"Not give up, we'll look later," Piper told him. Her eyes turned wide. "Oh god, I just realised you were sick! You can't have eaten in _days_!"

"I'll eat when we find Wyatt!" Chris replied stubbornly.

Piper narrowed her eyes. "You are going to come down and have some dinner with us, and until you do there will be no demon-hunting or spellwork."

Zach started snickering, and gulped seeing Piper and Chris glaring at him.

"Uh, maybe we should try and find Wyatt..." he trailed off, seeing his mother's glower.

"I think-" Paige started to say, but was interrupted when a burst of light filled the attic. A woman seemed to step out from nowhere. She had long, thick black hair that fell to her waist and crystal blue eyes. She held a triton and wore robes a deep blue colour.

"Greetings." Her clear voice rang out through the attic. "I am Tempus."

Chris seemed to recover first. "Tempus was a demon the Charmed Ones vanquished several years ago," he said suspiciously.

"Did you memories our history or something?" Paige muttered.

The woman who called herself Tempus laughed. "I am _much _more capable than any demon ever could be," she said, amused. "I took his place when he was vanquished. I have been doing this job for thousands of years."

"But he was only vanquished a few years ago," Piper pointed out.

Tempus arched an eyebrow. "You doubt my word? I control time, and most of my life has been spent travelling back and forwards through it. I could live through the same time over and over again until I grew old and died."

"Well, what are you doing here?" Paige asked. This time-travel talk was giving her a headache.

"To give some advice," Tempus replied seriously, turning her crystal eyes to Zach. "You, Zachary, were never supposed to travel to the past. It was simply not your destiny. And if you remain here even a full day longer, you may die."

They all gasped. "You can't send him back!" Chris replied, outraged.

"I will send no one anywhere," Tempus replied calmly. "I am just telling you what will happen if he remains here. Normally I would not bother, but it throws off the cosmic balance if someone dies in a time that is not their own."

"How will I die?" Zach seemed to be taking the news slightly better than everyone else, which honestly wasn't saying very much.

"I can not tell you," Tempus replied. Her blue eyes showed sympathy, but before she could say anything else, she had vanished.

**A/N:** Ooh, something's happening -finally. Please review!


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** I am _SO_ sorry! I know, it's been ages since I've updated. My Internet was disconnected for a couple of months, but luckily that's all been sorted out. I've also got a couple of other stories I'm hoping to post once this one is finished, which include a couple of Supernatural stories, a Smallville story and a Supernatural/Charmed crossover.

This chapter is pretty short, but from now on, I'll be updating fairly regularly. Once again, thanks to the people who reviewed! I wasn't sure how the spell to send someone forward in time went, so I just changed the spell used to go _back _in time, slightly. Things in italics are thoughts.

Chapter 10- 

"Well, that was... unexpected," Paige said, turning away from the spot where Tempus had been.

"Well, there's no way I'm going," said Zach.

"You have to!" Chris told him. "I don't want you dead!"

"We have no proof that what she said was true," Zach reasoned. "And I can't leave you here alone."

"He's not alone; he has me!" Piper put in.

Zach's eyes flickered towards her for the briefest second, before settling on Chris again.

"Look, you're in more danger here anyway. At least in our time, there won't be Wyatt anymore," Chris said.

"Wyatt won't kill me," said Zach.

Chris stayed silent. He knew that Wyatt loved them more than anyone else, but he loved power more, and if it came down to it, then power was what he'd choose.

"Chris, in _our _time, you didn't return. Remember I told you that I waited months?" Zach asked, and continued when Chris nodded. "Well, if you had succeeded then you probably would have returned to the exact same time that you left. You should have returned at the exact same time, but you didn't. I think you died, then. How can I leave you knowing you might die?"

"This is giving me a headache," Paige groaned.

"You might have changed that, by coming back," Chris said. "But I will _not _let you die."

"Zach, I think Chris is right," Piper said hesitantly. "That was a _Goddess_ we just saw. Remember what she said? I think if Chris was going to die, then she would have told us."

Zach looked around at them all, Chris and Paige who were nodding at Piper's words. He sighed.

"I guess I don't have much choice then, do I?" he muttered.

"I'll go and tell Phoebe and Leo, then we can send you back," Paige said, knowing Chris and Piper would want some time with Zach before he left.

Piper, Chris and Zach all stood there for a moment, staring at each other.

"I don't want you to go," Piper said, her eyes welling up with tears. "Can't you stay for dinner, at least?"

Zach looked at Chris.

"Well, Tempus said we had less than a day," Chris sighed. "But I suppose a couple of hours should be okay."

Piper's face lit up. "I'll go and start cooking," she said, much more cheerfully, and went downstairs.

Chris and Zach looked at each other.

"You want to go to the bridge?" Zach asked awkwardly.

Chris nodded and they orbed out.

"Are you okay, Piper?" Paige asked carefully.

Piper nodded. "Could you pass the salt?"

Paige handed her the bottle, and leaned against the bench.

"I'm here if you need to talk, you know," Paige told her.

Piper turned towards Paige, and her sister was surprised to see her eyes were full of tears.

"I just don't want to let him go!" Piper cried. "And I don't even know if he'll be born! Leo and I split up." Her eyes widened. "_Chris _split us up."

Paige frowned. "That's odd. I don't exactly picture him as a reckless kind of guy."

Leo orbed in. "Were you calling me?" he asked.

"Um, no," Piper said. "I was just making dinner, and-" She looked around the kitchen. "Do you want to stay, Leo? Zach's going home tonight, and I'm sure he'd appreciate you being here."

"Zach's going? Why?" Leo questioned.

"Long story," Piper replied shortly. "Will you stay?"

Leo squirmed. On the one hand, he wanted Zach to know he cared about him; on the other hand, he was ashamed of himself and didn't want to be around his sons. Any of them.

"Okay, then," Leo agreed, slightly reluctantly.

Piper gave a small smile and went back to her cooking, just as Phoebe entered the kitchen.

"Hey, Phoebes!" Paige said brightly.

"Sorry about Zach, Piper," Phoebe said, looking at her older sister with sympathy. "He'll be fine though, I'm sure."

"Are you sure I can't stay in this time?" Zach asked Chris for what must have been the tenth time.

"Yes. I am not taking any chances with your life," Chris said firmly.

Zach rolled his eyes. "Okay then."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"What?" Zach asked, realizing Chris was staring at him.

"It's just..." Chris started. "Well, when _I _go back to the future, it will have changed. You- might not be _you _anymore."

Zach smiled slightly. "I thought of that, you know." He drew a tiny potion vial out of his pocket. "When I first came to the past, I thought you might make me return, so I brought this. It contains most of my memories, including all the ones with you in." He looked at Chris seriously. "I want you to give it to the other me when you go back to our time."

"But... I don't _want_ the other you to have memories of our time. It was _bad_," Chris protested.

"But otherwise you'll be the only person who has actually experienced it," Zach urged. "You can't have that burden on yourself, Chris. And I _know _the other me will _want _to drink it because I know I'd do anything for you."

"Thanks, Zach," Chris said quietly, putting the vial in his pocket.

Zach smiled at him, knowing that at least he'd done _something _to ease his brother's anguish.

"_Bad _idea, Piper," Paige muttered to her sister.

"Shut up!" Piper hissed back.

Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Leo, Chris and Zach were seated around the table, eating a seafood dinner Piper had cooked. After promising he would return, Cole had gone for a walk around the city, not wanting to intrude on their family dinner.

The atmosphere was like ice. Chris and Zach were still angry with Leo, and Piper couldn't help feeling mad that he'd put her children under so much grief. Phoebe was like an emotional roller coaster, reeling from all the emotions she could feel.

Chris didn't even think they should be eating when Wyatt was missing, but he knew how much this meant to his mother, and he was desperate to keep Zach around for as long as he thought was safe. So he put up with it.

"Hey, what's this?" Zach asked curiously, picking up a prawn from his plate.

The sisters giggled at him, while Chris shrugged. Even Leo had to grin.

"It's a prawn," Piper told him. "Haven't you ever seen one before?"

"_Oh_." Comprehension dawned on Zach's face. "Well, I _have_ seen one before, but not for about five years."

"Wyatt made it illegal to eat or be in possession of them," Chris told them.

"Why?" Phoebe asked.

"He didn't like them," Chris said simply. "He almost banned peanut butter too, as it was his most hated food. How can someone not like peanut butter?"

"Why didn't he ban it, then?" Piper asked.

For the first time, Chris looked confused. "Well... I really liked it you see. He said that was why he didn't make it illegal."

They fell into silence again. Piper got up then, saying she was going to make some coffee. She came back a few minutes later with drinks and cheesecake.

"You really should go now," Chris told Zach, when they had finished eating. "We can't take any more chances."

Zach nodded reluctantly.

"Can't you stay just a little longer?" Piper pleaded.

Chris and Zach both shook their heads. "Do you want him to die?" Chris asked.

"No," Piper whispered, holding back tears.

Soon they were all standing in the attic. Paige and Phoebe each hugged Zach. He walked over to Piper, next.

"It was good to see you, Mom," he told her. "I didn't know you for that long, but you really were a good mother. I love you."

Piper kissed him on the forehead as he hugged her. He turned to Leo.

"Leo," Zach sighed. "Just- don't screw up this time, okay?"

"Can- can I ask you something?" Leo asked. Seeing Zach's nod, he continued. "Why do you hate me?"

Zach eyed him for a moment, before finally saying, "I've never hated you. You were a great father to me. But- not to everyone."

Leo nodded; looking slightly happier, and slightly sadder, if that was possible. Zach hesitated for a moment, and then hugged him.

"Be careful, Zach," Chris whispered, hugging his little brother.

"You too," Zach replied.

Zach stepped towards the attic wall. "Oh, before I forget," said Zach, looking around at the others. "If any of you start treating Chris badly again, I swear to God I will come straight back from the future and murder you all."

Ignoring Chris, who was rolling his eyes, Zach began to read the spell:

"'Hear these words, hear the rhyme, heed the hope within my mind, send me forward to where I'll find, what I wish in place and time.'"

A portal opened in the wall, and after a slight smile towards his family, Zach stepped through it. It closed up behind him.

Chris stared at the spot where his brother had been just a moment ago. He was now truly alone again. Sure, he had Piper, Phoebe and Paige, hell, even Leo, but it wasn't the same. They weren't from his time.

"Are you okay?" Piper asked, touching his shoulder lightly.

"Yes," Chris said unemotionally. "I'll see him again." _Even if it's not the same 'him', _he thought.

"I'm sorry, Chris," Leo said. "For everything I've done. I'm not going to be the Leo you know. I promise."

"Maybe one day you'll make a promise you actually _keep_," Chris said. His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Piper, Paige and Leo, as well as Phoebe, could hear the sadness behind the words.

"Look, Chris-" Leo started to say but was interrupted before he could finish.

"Leo. Leave it," Chris replied. "Much as I'd _love_ to stay and talk with you, I have more important things to do. Finding your son, for one."

"You're my son, too," Leo protested, but faltered at Chris' glare.

"_Leave _it!"

"Can't you do that talking-thing in your mind with Zach?" asked Paige.

"He's not there anymore," Chris said, staring at the wall.

"What do you mean 'he's not there'?" Piper asked worriedly.

"He's _not there_," Chris replied angrily. "I can only feel Wyatt."

"Does that mean he's dead?" asked Leo, his eyes widened in horror.

Chris shook his head. "Not dead... erased. If he was dead, we could get him back, but erased..."

"How could he have been erased?" asked Piper in confusion. "I didn't think he had to be conceived yet."

Chris grimaced. "No, he doesn't. I think the future's... frozen, though. I mean, there's a Zach, not _our _Zach, though. A different person, so we don't have the bond."

Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo all just stared at him. Chris sighed.

"Don't worry," said Chris. "It's too hard to explain, but he'll be fine. Wyatt won't though, unless we figure out who's holding him right now."

**A/N:** Please review:)


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Thanks to everybody who reviewed! Writing in italics in this chapter are dreams.

Chapter 11-

"_Chris..."_

_Chris opened his eyes to find himself standing in the plain brown room he had found himself in when he had dreamt of the good Wyatt. He could see Wyatt standing there in the middle of the room, but there was someone else too..._

"_Zach!" Chris exclaimed, running over to his brother. "I- I don't understand. How can you be here?"_

_Zach gave a small smile, a mixture of amusement and sadness. "We're in... Well, for lack of a better name, we'll call it the Dreamlands. This isn't a fixed reality, Chris... it's constantly moving, constantly changing. A place of possibilities, of ideas, of hopes..."_

"_You were erased," Chris said matter-of-factly._

_Zach chuckled. "Possibilities, Chris. Things that could be... This 'me' still has a chance of surviving."_

"_How?" asked Chris desperately._

_Zach smiled again, and this time it reflected nothing but grief. "That can't happen, Chris. I said it had a _chance _of happening, but we can't let it. I'll only be this exact person if we live through the exact same timeline. Would you be willing to send the world to hell so I could live?"_

"_Maybe," Chris replied bleakly._

"_Chris..." Zach pleaded._

"_So basically, one of you is going to live and one of you is going to die?" Chris asked flatly, looking from Zach to good Wyatt._

"_No," Zach replied firmly. "I'll get a chance at living too... I just won't be exactly the same. I'll be happier, though, Chris. I'll have a better life..."_

"_I'd give anything for you to not have to go through this, Chris," Wyatt replied, his eyes full of concern. "You know that, right?"_

_Chris nodded; overwhelmed by the brotherly love he could feel from _this _Wyatt that _his _Wyatt had rarely ever showed him._

"_So, why am I here?" Chris asked._

_Wyatt and Zach both smiled slightly guiltily._

"_I forgot about that..." admitted Zach. "It's just so good to see you... We don't have much time, though. We're supposed to help you, but-" Zach glanced around the room. "They might be able to hear us. _He _might be able to hear us..."_

"_He?" Chris demanded urgently. "Who? Does this have to do with who turned Wyatt?"_

_Wyatt and Zach both nodded._

"_Uh-huh," Zach replied. "They can hear us in the Dreamlands, because all the minds are linked through their subconscious. There's nowhere else we can speak, though, because there's nowhere else Wy and I exist..."_

"_You're in danger, Chris," Wyatt told him. "He's getting close to finding out your secret... He's been suspicious of you for a long time..."_

"_Who?" Chris questioned._

"_We can't say his name," Zach said fearfully, looking around. "It would draw his mind to us, and right now that would be the worst thing that could happen."_

"_Just be careful, Chris," Wyatt told him. "And don't worry about my baby self. I'm in good hands. Don't let _them _know though."_

'"_Them'?" Chris questioned. "Who are you talking about? And who has baby Wyatt?"_

"_Just save Dad," Zach said. "We'll see you soon, Chris..."_

_Chris opened his mouth to ask what Wyatt and Zach meant, but before his mouth could form the words, he had the sensation he was falling and had drifted back into the void of sleep._

"Chris, honey?"

Chris opened his eyes. He was lying on a couch in the Manor with Piper standing above him.

"You asked me to wake you up in a few hours," Piper said apologetically.

Chris nodded, recalling that he'd only slept in the first place because Piper had practically forced him to after he'd almost passed out and he didn't particularly want to upset her any further.

"Have you found Wyatt yet?" Chris asked then gasped when memories of his dream came flooding back to him. "Where's Leo?"

"Leo?" Piper questioned, looking confused. "I'm not sure. I saw him a couple of hours ago. I think he went to ask the Elders about Wyatt."

"Leo!" Chris called desperately to the roof. "Leo! LEO!"

A worried look crossed Piper's face. "Leo!" she called, then waited a moment. When no orb lights appeared, she turned back to Chris. "What's happened to him?"

"I might actually have been able to answer that if I hadn't been sleeping for the last four hours," Chris said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. At Piper's hurt look, he softened. "I'm not sure, actually."

"How did you know he wasn't here?" asked Piper, her face stark white.

"Instincts," Chris replied distractedly. "Look, he has to be fine. I'm still here, right?"

Piper nodded tearfully. "Yes."

"We'll find him soon, I promise," assured Chris. "But have you found Wyatt yet?"

Piper shook her head.

"Okay, well, do any of the Elders or the people at magic school know about him being missing?" questioned Chris.

"No, not if Leo got lost before he could tell the Elders," answered Piper.

Chris sighed in relief. "Okay, well for now we have to try and keep it that way."

"Why?" asked Piper in confusion.

"It's... _safer_ that way," Chris replied cryptically, then looked at Piper pleadingly. "Please, Mom?"

Piper gave a small smile and nodded. Chris felt slightly guilty that he had only called her 'Mom' so she'd agree with him but he convinced himself that it was for a good reason. To save Wyatt.

"I can't find him," sighed Paige, handing the crystal to Phoebe. "Maybe we should look for Wyatt for awhile."

"No," Chris said sharply, coming into the room. "We need to find Leo."

"You've changed," remarked Paige. "Shouldn't you be obsessing over _Wyatt_'_s _whereabouts?"

"I just think we need to focus on finding Leo," replied Chris nonchalantly. "He disappeared just as he was about to alert the Elders on Wyatt's disappearance. Maybe someone wanted to stop that."

"A demon?" Phoebe questioned. Her eyes widened. "Or...?"

"The grown-up Wyatt," answered Chris grimly. "I was hoping maybe you could help me write spell that would enable me to summon him using our blood bond. Without him destroying us first, of course."

"No need, Christopher," came an amused voice from behind them. "I'm already here."

Chris groaned, turning around. Leaning casually against the doorway was his brother Wyatt.

"What are you doing here?" Chris asked.

"I have Leo," stated Wyatt calmly. "It's simple. You come with me and he doesn't get killed."

"If he gets killed, I'm going to die anyway," replied Chris angrily. "I won't ever be born. And neither will Zach."

"I know," Wyatt replied levelly. "The choice is up to you."

"How do I know you won't kill Leo afterwards if I choose to come with you?" questioned Chris.

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Don't you have any sense of logic? If I kill Leo, I kill you. Right now, I am trying to get you to _join _me. We can return to the future we left from, which means Zach will be there. We'll be the new power of three."

"You are _insane_!" cried Chris, throwing up his hands. "Besides, Zach's been erased. He's not coming back."

"If you go back _now, _you still haven't changed anything," pointed-out Wyatt. "We can erase the memories of our parents and aunts, too."

"How do I know you really have Leo?" asked Chris, stalling.

"Have I ever lied to you?" inquired Wyatt.

"You're the evil tyrant of the world!" Chris snapped then thought about it. "No, you haven't. I don't care, though, I want proof to know what I'm getting into."

Wyatt sighed. "Fine." Leo's struggling form materialized in front of him, bound and gagged. In a second, Wyatt had summoned Excalibur and pressed the blade against Leo's neck.

"Believe me now?" Wyatt asked, a glimmer or amusement in his eyes.

"I-" For the first time, Chris seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Come with me, Chris," Wyatt pressed, almost pleadingly. "We can rule the world together, with Zach. We'll have everything we ever wanted."

"All _I've _ever wanted is my family alive," Chris replied, folding his arms across his chest.

Wyatt's eyes glimmered dangerously. "Then Leo dies."

"No!" Chris shouted. "I'll go with you, okay?"

"Chris!" Phoebe cried, stepping forward timidly. "You can't. We have a job to do. There must be some way around this..." She looked at Wyatt with a mixture of disbelief and fear.

Chris shook his head. "There's not." He stared at Wyatt pleadingly. "Can't I spend one more day with our family? They're not in our future... you could too if you wanted."

"How do I know you won't break your promise?" Wyatt asked.

"You'd be here, too," said Chris. "I'm sure you'd easily be able to overpower us all..."

Wyatt thought about it then nodded. In his hand materialized a knife. He passed it to Chris who took it hesitantly.

"Swear it on our blood," Wyatt ordered. "The knife is enchanted... you won't be able to break your promise."

Chris nodded, pressing the blade to his finger. A drop of blood trickled down, and he handed the knife to Wyatt who did the same. Wyatt removed the sword from its position on Leo's neck and the binds fell away.

"Leo, maybe you could go and see Piper," suggested Chris. "She's been really worried about you."

Leo nodded, orbing away with a look of relief. Paige and Phoebe were left staring at Chris and Wyatt with expressions of disbelief.

"So, you're just going to erase our memories?" questioned Paige.

"I could kill you if you'd prefer that," suggested Wyatt.

"No, no, erasing our memories is fine," Phoebe said, turning white.

"Uh, why don't you and Paige go and tell Cole what's happened, Phoebe," suggested Chris.

Paige and Phoebe took the hint and left, leaving Chris and Wyatt alone.

"I hate you, you know?" Chris told his brother. "The world is going to hell because of you."

Wyatt shrugged delicately. "You made the choice."

"There _was _no choice!" exploded Chris. "You _knew _that!"

"Chris, it was for the best," explained Wyatt. "Everything I did, I did to protect you and Zach. To make the world a better place."

"Maybe it would have been better if I wasn't born then," Chris mumbled. "Maybe splitting up Piper and Leo was for the best."

"That's not true and you know it," Wyatt replied carelessly. "Mom and Leo belong together. Speaking of which, I'll have to erase that little mistake of yours before we go, Chris."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "I'm _Chris _again?"

Before Wyatt could get a chance to reply, Leo had orbed n with Piper. She rushed over to hug Chris.

"Chris! You can't go," she cried. "There has to be another way..." She gave a start, seeing Wyatt standing next to him. "And you, mister, are getting a very long grounding as soon as you're old enough to understand."

Wyatt gave a sinister smile. "You won't be remembering this. The timeline is going to play out just like it did for Chris and I. Just the way it should."

"I wasn't given a hell of a choice," muttered Chris. Raising his head, he looked at Piper. "I'm sorry, Mom."

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out," she promised. "I am _not _letting you go back to that future."

Chris smiled, knowing he could always count on Piper. "I don't think we really have much of a choice," he replied truthfully.

"Of course we do," Piper replied. "We always have a choice."

'_Good Wyatt and Zach told me to save Leo_,' thought Chris. _'I saved him from death. Surely that's what they meant?'_

"Your mother's right, we're going to help you, Chris," said Leo.

"You don't know Wyatt like I do," Chris replied. "There is _no way _around this."

"I am still in the room!" Wyatt replied indignantly. "Can't you leave your conversations about me until I leave? Besides, Chris is right. He's coming back to the future with me, and it will all play out like it should."

Piper sighed. "I'm going to go and cook dinner."

"I'll help," Wyatt offered.

Piper, Leo and Chris all shot him very strange looks.

"You just threatened to kill my husband and now you are going to help me make dinner?" Piper said incredulously.

"I did that because I needed to," Wyatt explained then shrugged. "I used to help you cook all the time when I was younger. Before I killed you, I mean."

"You killed me," Piper repeated faintly.

"Well, I didn't _physically_ kill you, it was a shapeshifter in my form. It was still my fault, though, and for Chris' sake I wish it hadn't happened," said Wyatt, shrugging casually. "But I can hardy kill you _now_, you know, I still need my brothers to be born." If that was supposed to be comforting, it didn't have much of an effect. "Come on, let's go."

Piper followed him from the attic, and if it was slightly reluctantly, he didn't notice.

"Chris?" said Leo. "I'm sorry. About getting captured by Wyatt and for- well, for not being a very good father to you."

Chris shrugged. "Don't worry. Just-" He glanced around the room. "Make sure you learn from your mistakes, this time, okay? Maybe you could do us all a favour and bind your sons' powers when we're born."

Leo nodded.

**A/N:** That wasn't particularly long, but I wanted to post it before I forgot. Please review!


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

* * *

**Chapter 12-**

"Could you pass me the butter?" asked Piper.

Wyatt orbed it into Piper's hands. Piper frowned.

"That's personal gain," she said, hands on her hips.

Wyatt shrugged.

"It's easier that way," he whined.

"The butter was right next to you," pointed out Piper.

"Yeah..." replied Wyatt, not seeming to see what she was getting at.

Piper sighed, giving the pasta on the stove a stir. "Why don't you go and spend some time with your father? You probably won't be seeing him again after this."

Wyatt scowled. "He's not my father, anymore."

Piper sighed again. "Okay."

Just then, Chris walked into the kitchen, Leo in tow.

"Hi... Mom," Chris greeted her.

Piper smiled happily. "Hi, sweetie."

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "I'm going for a walk."

"What happened to 'keeping an eye on me'?" asked Chris.

Wyatt shrugged. "I can feel you in my head. I'll know if you've got anywhere."

"Oh, yeah, because I'm just _so _likely to try and escape from the world's evil tyrant ruler knowing he could kill me in an _instant_," Chris replied sarcastically.

Wyatt just gave his brother a smug look and walked away, ignoring Chris' own one of annoyance.

"What are we going to do?" asked Piper fearfully.

"There's nothing we _can _do," Chris replied irritably. "The only way to end this would be to kill him."

"Chris... I don't like the idea of killing my own son, but... that is _not _my son. The innocent toddler who happens to be _missing _is my son," said Leo grimly.

Chris eyes widened. "You mean... you'd really...?"

Leo nodded, putting a hand on Chris shoulder. "If it means you and Zach would live, I'd be willing to kill grown-up Wyatt."

Chris swallowed, feeling a strange sense of happiness, which he quickly pushed back. "I don't think we could kill him, anyway. He's too powerful."

"_Someone_ must be able to destroy him..." mused Leo.

Chris shook his head, though slightly hesitantly. "No... no. _Maybe _if Zach and I joined our power..." He paused, then continued. "But Zach's gone. It's just me, and I couldn't kill him by myself."

Leo and Piper both nodded, though somewhat reluctantly.

"But... we can't let him take you back to the future, Chris," said Piper. "There must be some way..."

"Well, there's _not_!" Chris said harshly. At Piper and Leo's surprised look, he softened his voice. "Look, I know you want to help me, but... if you try anything, Wyatt will _kill _you. You really don't seem to be able to grasp that."

"Well, then what are we supposed to do?" asked Piper.

"Just look after baby Wyatt," said Chris intensely. "If you save him, you'll save me."

* * *

"You're not going to hurt me, are you?" asked Cole, a wary look on his face.

Wyatt chuckled, stepping forward into the attic. "Now, where would you get that idea?"

"I don't know, maybe the fact that, from what I hear, you've killed off most of the human race," Cole replied dryly.

Wyatt thought about that for a moment. "Hmm. Makes sense." He paused. "Lucky for you, though, that's not going to happen. I need your help."

Cole arched an eyebrow. "What kind of help?"

Wyatt smiled. "Chris needs to be conceived in the next five days, or... there won't _be _a Chris."

Cole's eyes widened. "I don't see what I can do about it..."

Wyatt smirked, handing Cole a tiny bottle. "The world's strongest love potion. I'll be going back to the future tomorrow, so you'll have to put this in Piper and Leo's drinks. You'll need to do the same in about, hmm, five years, so that Zach can be conceived. About a drop each time should do it."

Cole's mouth dropped open. "I am _not _drugging Piper and Leo."

Wyatt raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Do you really want the disappearance of Chris and Zach on your conscience?"

Without another word, he walked off.

* * *

"So, how was everybody's day?" asked Piper, pasting a fake smile onto her face.

"Oh, just great. My evil older brother kidnapped my father and is planning on bringing me back to the screwed-up future," said Chris, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Piper winced and lowered her head, poking at her food with a fork.

"I'm _not _evil!" Wyatt said, his eyes glinting dangerously for a moment. "There's-"

"No such thing as good and evil, yeah, I _know_," said Chris irritably.

"You actually _believe _that?" questioned Paige, surprised.

Wyatt's eyes hardened. "It's the truth."

Nobody particularly wanted to pick a fight with the most powerful witch in the history of the world, so they all stayed silent.

"Uh... could- could you pass me the salt?" stammered Phoebe to Wyatt.

Wyatt just looked at her, a frown coming onto his face.

"Don't worry, I, uh, don't need it anymore," said Phoebe; putting on a fake smile very similar to the one Piper had just been wearing. She edged her chair away from Wyatt.

Wyatt suddenly broke into peals of laughter, making everyone jump.

"Um, am I missing something here?" asked Paige, looking confused.

"Ha, she thought I was going to kill her just for asking for the salt," said Wyatt, clutching his stomach.

They all just stared at him.

"Never mind, you wouldn't get it," Wyatt sighed. He put a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

"So, uh, what time are you planning on going tomorrow?" Leo asked Wyatt, even thought he had no intention of letting him take Chris _anywhere_.

Wyatt shrugged. "As early as possible, I guess."

"Couldn't we make some kind of... agreement?" pleaded Piper. "Please, we just want Chris."

Wyatt shook his head. "He's coming back with me."

"_We_'_re _his parents!" argued Leo.

"I am _not _some child you can just fight over like you're in a messy custody battle!" said Chris angrily. "Okay? I'm going back with Wyatt and that's all there is to it."

He orbed out.

"Where is he?" asked Leo, worriedly. "I can't sense him."

"He's on the bridge," stated Wyatt, after pausing for a moment. "And he's right, you know. We shouldn't argue over him. _I'm _the one who looked after him when all of you were dead, therefore he should stay with me."

Piper's mouth dropped over in indignation. "He doesn't want _anyone _to fight over him!"

"Yeah, well, how would he know what's best for him?" said Wyatt airily. "I, on the other hand, _do_."

* * *

"What are you _doing _here, Wyatt?" asked Chris, seeing his brother orb onto the bridge besides him.

"I came to see _you_, of course," said Wyatt, as though it was obvious.

Chris ignored this.

"I know what you're thinking, Chris," Wyatt told him. "Piper and Leo, too. But there is _no way _you can get out of this. I don't know why you're even trying. _I _looked after you, Chris. Not Mom, not Leo, not any of our aunts. _Me_. Did they ever pay any attention to you?"

Chris shook his head reluctantly. "They're making an effort, now..."

Wyatt snorted. "An '_effort_'? That's really going to work well. What will happen when Zach's born and he's the baby of the family again?"

Chris' eyes widened in panic. "_Zach_! I totally screwed up his chances of being born!"

"Calm down, Chris," said Wyatt. "Do you really think I'd let my brothers die?"

Chris stared at his brother for a moment, opening his mind to let in just the right amount of thoughts that would tell him what he wanted to know. "God, Wy. A love potion? You are _sick_."

"Can you honestly tell me you wouldn't have done the same for Zach?" asked Wyatt. When Chris didn't answer, he continued. "Didn't think so. So, now Zach's being born and our parents and aunts will get sick of you, just like they did in our timeline. All you have is _me, _Chris. Zach and I. And in the future, we can be together, just like we should be."

Chris stayed silent. It was tempting, but the easy way out was often the wrong was out. And he knew that it was true, in this case.

"I'm only agreeing to come so that nobody else gets hurt," hissed Chris, whirling around to face his brother in a sudden burst of anger. "You got that?"

Wyatt sighed reluctantly. "You'll understand someday, Chris."

* * *

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked, coming over to sit with Cole on the couch. "You've been a bit... quiet."

"Oh, I'm fine," lied Cole. "It's just... _strange_ being able to talk to so many people, you know?"

"You're lying," said Phoebe.

Cole gaped at her. "What?"

"You're lying," repeated Phoebe, narrowing her eyes at him. "I'm an empath, remember? There was _no _sincerity in that."

Cole sighed. "I'm not getting out of this one, am I?"

"Nope," replied Phoebe. "Spill."

"I-" Cole began; then broke off exhaling. "Wyatt wants me to give Leo and Piper a love potion."

"What!" Phoebe half-yelled. "No way. You couldn't do that to them. I can't believe you're even _considering _it! You really haven't changed at all, have you?"

"No, no, Phoebe," said Cole, hurriedly. "You don't understand. I agree with you, but, well... Leo and Piper aren't together, and... Chris and Zach still need to be conceived."

Phoebe's eyes widened. "Oh, no..."

"You see the dilemma now?" said Cole grimly. "Giving Piper and Leo a love potion would just be morally wrong, but... the alternative is _not _giving them the love potion and having Chris and Zach never exist."

"Maybe... maybe we could get them together," suggested Phoebe. "Like, without the love potion."

Cole sighed. "I don't think that's going to happen."

"It's worth a try," pleaded Phoebe. "When does Chris have to be conceived, anyway?"

"In the next five days," Cole told her.

Phoebe put her head in her hands. "Ugh. This is a mess. Why do all these things have to happen to _this _family? What did we ever do to deserve it? Piper and Leo... they just wanted to be happy."

Cole put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll work out... I promise."

* * *

**A/N:** That was a bit short, I know, but it seemed like a good place to end the chapter. Please review!


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